





, --sw-c-- ^^^ ">■, ^>f^^-- / '^. ^^'■^ "^**'?'" /% V 









«0 






^■,...,\"-'->°'....V---V'.. V----->''. V-sv-'^ -1 



°- /..-■••-■^ o»*.-:---*». /V"-..\ •■/..■..■'•'■„'••••.. 









^' 



- ■^- ' ^^ '^t. ,•* c> ,0-y- 



> 



. .o^.^--.% -" ^:^ ,.^„ \-'r ■■■■"■ 









A^' 



.0^^' 



\ 






%. 






>. 



^^^ .^V- 









<{-■ 



.0- 



^^ 



^^•'•^. 




c._.;s- 


V 


... . ,^^^ 


0^* 






s^''- - 





-^^ 



^A. 






,A<'-^ 









■0' 

■i n 



<^' 






. ^-^ A^' 






V'X 






.s ^r- 






■ S ..f- 






^V •^, 






,6^ *c. ^ 










^^ -., -^o 






o 




v^^' 




^o 



A^ 



■i- 



■...^-y 


^^ c- 
















■.'- '^ " 


o "" ^ . 


. < • ^-N ^' . 






o 


--.•'=. 








■"^-, 


: -^o 


'^y- 


0^ 








/ 


^;> 


^ .0^ 








.v^''. 




■ %/ 






■^.^' 




.^^■'^., 






.x^^••V 






■/ 








■^h 








>P 


''*<^. 






* .-« 




.rf. -f 






'vT -b 


S 


^<- 




.J^b 






y'V 




0.^-",, 






.^^^■, 




<- . 


e. 


^••'.G*'' '\ 


''', 


■<:> 




-"-■* 




o 


^ ■-...■• 


'*,. 










.^ 




b 


^,<;\ 






■^b 


•^^ V 


.0- .."•■'- 'o 




' 




...A/- 


"• • 


■■'■/^ 


.-■.•- ^. 



X- V 



^i- 



'^,;. .^"^ 



0^ 



.->' 




THE CAPTURE OF MAJOR ANDRE 

Much sympathy was felt in America for Andre, hut thej iistice of his being hung as a spy was never questioned. His 
ihrte ca; t rs, P«uld iig, \'un Wart and WiUiams, were honored with medals and $200 00 a year for life, 
and mominijiils were erected to their meniuties by our Government. 




THE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWM 



This Country of Ours 

Its Great Achievements 
And Wonderful Progress 

FROM THE FIFTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 



A FASCINATING AND INTERESTING STORY 



OF ALL THE GREAT EVENTS IN AMERICAN 
HISTORY FROM THE EARLY DISCOVERIES 
TO THE MAKING OF CUBA A REPUBLIC 



By HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LL,B., Lit.D, 

l-dilor cf " 1 he Making <>( America," '*()ur Nt-w Knglaiiil." i-u 

ASSISTED BY A CORPS OF SPECIAL WRITERS ON VARIOUS PHASES OF OUR HISTORY 



EMBELLISHED WITH OVER 150 FINE ENGRAVINGS 

By the Best American Artists 
Illustrating all that is interesting and Inspiring in Our History 



THE LIBRABY OF 
OONGRESS, 

"\KO COPIt* R£0«<VED 

CCT, 13 i902 

CfWMJIOHT ENTTTY 

■;,ASg Ct^XXc No. 
COPY B. 



Entered according to J^t of 
Cong ress i n the y ear 1902 by * 
W. E. SCULL, in the offkie 
of the Librarian of Congress, 
at Washington. D. C. 

All Rights Reserved 







INTRODUCTION. 



THIS book is designed to impress upon the mind of American youth the 
principal great events in our history ; to acquaint them with the manners 
and customs of different periods and in different sections, and to stimulate 
in them such a love for American history that they will seek its fuller details in 
the volumes of our great historians. 

It was the custom among some nations ot antiquity to repeat to each fresh 
generation the noble deeds of their ancestors, thus making history a great oral 
tradition, and turning it from a dead record into a living romance. The Athenian 
boys learned Homer by heart ; the " Iliad " and " Odyssey " took the place of 
the pile of books which the schoolboy of to-day carries under his arm when he 
sets his "morning face" schoolward. In this way boys learned beauty and 
eloquence of speech, and imbibed the spirit of art while they were yet at their 
games. But they learned even greater things than these ; they grew up with 
the heroes of their race and took part in their great deeds. The bravest and 
most poetic things which their race had done were familiar and became dear to 
them while their natures were most receptive and responsive. The past was 
not dim and obscure to them as it is to too many Americans; it was a living 
past, full of splendid figures and heroic deeds. To boys so bred in the very 
arms and at the very heart of their race it was a glorious privilege to be an 
Athenian ; to share in a noble history, to be a citizen of a beautiful city, to have 
the proud consciousness of such place and fame among men. It is not surprising 
that as the result of such an education the small city of Athens produced more 
great men in all departments in the brief limits of a century than most other 
cities have bred in the long course of history. There was a vital inspiring 
education behind that splendid flowering of art, literature, philosophy, and 
statesmanship. 

This book endeavors to do for American boys and girls what such training 
o c (11) 



1 2 INTRO D UCTION. 

as the above did for the young Athenian, by setting before them in true but 
glowing narrative the most heroic and most interesting things in the history of 
our grand and glorious country. 

It is doubtful if any country has ever developed greater energy of spirit or 
greater variety of character than this; and this is the chief reason why our history 
has such significance and such fruitage of achievement. 

To know this history is a duty and a delight. A man whose brave ancestors 
have carried the name he bears far, and made it a synonym for courage and 
honor, is rightly proud of his descent and gets from it a new impulse to bear as 
brave a part in his own day. Americans can honestly cherish such pride ; it is 
justified by what lies behind them. No man can be truly patriotic who does not 
know something of the nation to which he belongs, and of the country in which 
he lives. Such knowledge is a part of intelligent citizenship. In this country, 
where the government rests on the intelligence and virtue of the entire population, 
such a knowledge is a duty and a necessity. Not to know these things is to miss 
a noble and inspiring landscape which we might see simply by the lifting up of 
the eyes. 

The American boy and girl ought to have the same education, and this book 
is for them both. Too many women and almost as many m.en grow up with the 
most indefinite ideas of their own country. They do not know what has been 
done here ; they do not even know how people live in other parts of the broad 
land. They know something of their own communities, but they are ignorant 
of the greater community to which they belong. The story of the country's 
birth and growth, of its struggles and achievements, of its wonderfully diversified 
life, of its heroic men and noble women, ought to be familiar to every boy and 
girl from earliest childhood. This knowledge is the A B C of real education, 
and to furnish this knowledge was an object in the preparation of this volume. 

It is a book for the family and for fireside reading. America is pre-eminently 
the country ot homes; that is, the country which, by its free institutions and its 
large social and industrial conditions, makes comfortable homes possible to its 
entire population. These homes are not only the sources of happiness and the 
nurseries of purity and prosperity, they are also the schools of citizenship. 
From these schools are graduated year after year, in unbroken and never-ending 
classes, the men and women who continue and enlarge the work and the influ- 
ence of the nation. The Bible has been and will remain the o-reat text-book in 
these schools; but other books are needed, and this book aims to take its place 
as an indispensable book of instruction and entertainment. The history of a 
race is the best possible material for the education of the children of that race. 

There is no romance so marvelous as this record of fact; none so full of 
incident, adventure, heroism, and human vicissitude. From the voyages of the 
earliest Spanish, French, and English explorers to the inventions and discoveries 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

of modern times ; from the struggles for our own freedom in 1776 to our heroic 
battle for Cuban liberty from Spanish oppression in 1S9S, the story never fails 
of thrilling interest. It is a romance of humanity written by the hand of Provi- 
dence on the clean, broad page of a new continent. It is a Bible for new illus- 
tration of the old laws of right and wrong which underlie all history; but it is a 
modern version of The Arabian Nights for marvels and miracles of human skill 
and achievements. The building of Aladdin's palace was a small affair compared 
with the building of some of our States; and the rubbing of Aladdin's lamp was 
but a faint burnishing compared with the glow of prosperity which hard work 
has brought out on the face of this continent. There is no romance so wonderful 
as the story of life told, not by novelists of varying degrees of skill, but acted 
out by great multitudes of eager, energetic men and women as recorded in tliis 
volume, for the education and inspiration of the boys and girls, young men and 
women of America. 

America ! What heart does not thrill with patriotic pride at the mention of 
the word? Of her glorious history how truly has the poet sung: 

" Land of tlie Wt-st, though passing brief 
The record of thine age, 
Tiiou hast a name that darkens all 
On history's wide page." 

Yet, if we may dare to prophesy, the past with all its achievements is not 
to be compared to the future greatness of our country, from whose fires on 
freedom's altar the torch of liberty is being lighted throughout the world, and 

" We behold, as in a vision, stern Columbia, sword in hand, 
And we hear tlie tramp of legions marshaling at her command; 
Listen to the ringing challenge that she sends across the sea, 
'They that wield the rod oppression must account for it to me.' 
We beliold her, God commissioned, striking ancient error down. 
Wresting from the cruel despot sword and sceptre, throne and crown ; 
All the watching world applauds her when she cuts the captive's thongs 
And, full fortified by justice, rights the martyred nation's wrongs." 



LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS. 



INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER I. 

The Story of Christopher Columbus and what He Did ... i 

Discovery and discoverers — The Norsemen — Did they discover America ? — The evidence — Conclusions — Columlius- 
Early ye^irs — Characters of his time — Leaves Italy for Portugal — His plan — Sees the king — The king's indifTerenc 
— Visits Spain— A true friend — Disappointment and delay — Ferdinand — His coolness to Columbus's project- 
Isabella — Exorbitant terms — At last success — The expedition from Palos — Mutiny — Columbus's firmness — Mi: 
taken signs — Land at last — A new world found — Returns to Spain — Voyages and discoveries — Humiliation — H 
death at Valladolid. 

CHAPTER II. 

Great Discoverers and Explorers who Followed Columbus .... 4 

Columbus and his discoveries — Their effect — Other nations aroused — The Cabots and Labrador — Americus Ve^pucii 
— The name America — Cannibals and their sacrifices — Pinzon turns voyager — His discoveries — Da Gama — E 
Cabral — Bastidas — De La Cosa — Ponce De Leon — His campaign in Florida — Verazzano — Balboa — He di^cove 
the Pacific — Davila — Ferdinand De Soto — Attempts to conquer Florida — A long march — Onward to the far we 
— De Soto discovers the Mississippi — Death and burial. 

CHAPTER III. 

Thrilling Experiences of Our Forefathers in Early Days .... 6 

Beginnings of immigration — Condition of Europe — First attempt at colonization — The Thirty Years' War — First Roi 
noke colony — Women and the colonists — Raleigh assigns his patent — Acadie — The Virginia charter — Laziness an 
ill feeling — Obtaining a new charter — -The Pocahontas myth — John Smith — His character — The Plymouth color 
— .A cruel winter — Miles Standish — Picturesque charters — Massachuseits Bay Colony — Indian wars — Boundary di 
putes — Town meetings — Hendrick Hudson — New Amsterdam — I'enn — The Friends — Rapid success ol tl 
Quakers. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Curious Manners and Customs in Old Colonial Times 8 



Home and social life — Isolation of communities — The typical Puritan home — Friendliness and repression — Horr 
industries — The loom and the spinning-wheel — Habits of the people — Books and reading — School and meetini 
house — Minister and squire. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Romantic Story of Captain Kidd and Other Buccaneers and Pirates . 9 

Tortuga — The first home of the buccaneers— Spain jealous of the French — The capture of a war-ship — Character c 

14 



LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS. i5 

FAGB 

the buccaneers — Pierre Francois and the pearl fishers — A change of base — Porlugues — Supposed death of the 
pirate — Rejoicing of the Spaniards — Braziliano — The profligacy of Port Royal — Davis's strategy — Defeat and 
vengeance of Lolonois — Wealth of the Spanish-American cities — The defense of Merida — An old soldier of 
Klandcrs — The last of the buccaneers — Henry Morgan — His career — The taking of Puerto Bello — St. Catherine's 
Falls — Mnracaibo rfgain — The Spanish admiral's ultimatum — How Morgan answered it — Theatrical civility — 
Morgan approaches Panama — In sight of Panama — An arduous battle — Rich booty — Treachery of Morgan — Other 
pirates — Kidd — Blackbeard — How Kidd got his commission, etc. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Story of the Revolution, its Battles and Heroes . . . . iii 

Character of the war — The British plan of campaign — Bunker Mill — Ticonderoga — The Declaration of Independence 
— Battle uf Long Island — Harlem Heights — Washington's crossing the Delaware — Trenton and Princeton — 
Hurguyne's expedrtion — Surrender of Burgoyne — Howe at Philadelphia — Battle of Germantown — Washington at 
Valley Forge — The French alliance — Monmouth court-house — invasion of Georgia and South Carolina — Gates's 
failure — Greene's strategy — Benedict Arnold's treachery — Paul Jones and the"Serapis" — At Yorktown — Wash- 
ington's decisive move — Surrender of Cornwalhs — Independence acknowledged. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Eventful Story of Daniel Boone, Fremont, and other Pathfinders and Pioneers 133 

Daniel Boone — A picturesque character — -Walker — Stewart — Ilolden — Moncey — Finley — Cool— A first view of Ken- 
tucky — The bivouac — A Kentucky fort — Indian captures — David Crockett — A fascinating career — Lewis and 
Clark — Their westward travels — Fremont — Kit Carson — Arctic explorers— Behring — Van Wrangel — Ross — Parry 
— Sir John Franklin — The Grinnell expedition — Kane — Dr. Hayes — Schwalker — The Bennett expedition — Cap- 
tain Long — Death and rescue. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The P.urnino of Washington City and the Story of the War of 181 2 . . 149 

Meaning of the war — Its causes — Neutral rights — Impressing American sailors — Insults and outrages — The " Chesa- 
peake " and the " Leopard " —Injury to American commerce — Paper blockades — The orders in council — Embargo 
as retaliation — Our naval glory in this war — Failure of the campaign against Canada — Hull's surrender at Detroit 
— Splendid victories at sea — The " Constitution " and the " Guerriire " — The " Wasp " and the " Frolic " — Other 
sea-duels — American privateers — On the lakes — Perry's great victory — Land operations — Battle of the Thames — ■ 
Wilkinson's fiasco — The " Shannon " and the " Chesapeake " — English reinforcemenis — Lundy's Lane and 
Plattsburg — The burning of Washington — Baltimore saved — General Jackson at New Orleans— The treaty of peace 
— The Hartford convention. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Story of the Indian from the Coming of the White Man to the Present Time 165 

BY HON. HENRY L. D.\WES, 

CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, U. S. SENATE. 

Our relations to the Indian — Period of Disciivery — Ilospit.ality to first settlers — Abuse of hospitality — Distrust and 
warfare — Colonial period — Early outbreaks and massacres — French and English Wars — Revolutionary W.ar — 
Indian struggle for territory — Nalional period — Conflict between two civilizations — Indian bureau — Government 
policy — Treaties — Reservation plan — Removals under it — Indian wars — Plan of concentration — Disturbance and 
fighting — Plan of education and absorption — Its commencement — Present condition of Indians — Nature of educa- 
tion and results — Land in severalty la^v — Missionary effort — Necessity and duty of absorption. 



1 6 LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

The Storv of the Black Man in Slavery and in Freedom .... 195 

The negro in America — The first cargo — Beginning of the slave traffic — As a laborer — Increase in numlier — Slavery; 
its different character in different States — Political disturbances — Agitation and agitators — John Brown — War and 
how it emancipated the slave — The free negro. 

CHAPTER XI. 

The St(1ry of Our Great Civil War 210 

Secession — Not exclusively a Southern idea — An irrepressible conflict — Coining events — Lincoln — A nation in arms — 
Sumter — Anderson — McClellan — Victory and defeat — " Monitor" and " Merrimac" — Anlietam — Shiloh — Buell — 
Grant — George H. Thomas — Kosecrans-— Porter — Sherman —Sheridan — Lee — Gettysburg — A great fight — Sher- 
man's march — The Confederates weakening — More victories — .Appomattox — Lee's surrender — From war to peace. 

CHAPTER Xn. 

Lessons and Recolleltions of the Civil War by an Old Soldier . . 234 
By ALEX.\NDER K. McCLURE, 

FDITOK AND FKOPHIETOK OF THE PHILADELPHIA TIMES 

Emancipation — Reluctance of the North to fight — Fort Sumter — False estimates on both sides — The (piestion of the 
right to coerce — Naval warfare revolutionized — Gloomiest period of the war — Sherman at .\tlanta— Battle of Get- 
tysburg — Lee — Sherman — Jackson — Lincoln — Grant, etc. 

CHAPTER XHI. 

The Story of Our Navv and Ctkeat Naval Battles 255 

The origin of the American navy — John Paul Jones and his famous victory — Sights on gull^ and what lluy did — Sup- 
pressing the Barbary pirates — Opening Japan — Port Royal — Passing the forts- The " Monitor" and " Merrimac" 
— In Mobile Bay — The " Kearsarge" and the "Alabama" — Naval architecture revolutionized — The Samoan 
hurricane — Building a new navy. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Storv nr CioLn and Silver Mining, where the Precious Metals are 

Found and H(.>w Oiitained 277 

Opening the way to California — iJiscovery of gold — Marshal and Sutter — Profits one dollar per minute — San Francisco 
with fifty houses — Five times destroyed by fire — Discovery of silver in 1857 — The fate of early miners — Mining 
life — Vigilance committees, etc. 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Story of the Farmer and His Farm from Primitive Colonial Days 

Id the Present Time . 289 

The homestead system — Importance of the agricultural industries — 'i'he great grain harvests — Truck-farming — Niir^eries 
— Floriculture — Seed-farms — Fruit culture — Oranges, bananas and grapes — The neglected farms of New Engliiad 
an.l the great plantations of the West — The cottonfields of the South. 



LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS 



17 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Marvklous Stokv of Our Great Industries -,07 

In the rock-ribbed hills-Buried treasures ol earth-Rare stones-Variegated marbles-Granites-lIow to ..n'tlu- 
stones out-A young ind«s.ry-The great flour mills-Old-time milling-The new process-The great flot.r nulls 
of the West-lhe,r vast outputs, etc.-The great oil wells-A wonderful industry-More light-PetroIeum-It. 
h,story-Development-Gas wells-The great pipe-lines-" Cushers "-Suggestive figures, etc. 

CHAPTER XVH. 

The TnKii.i.iNr, Story oe Life on the Frontier ..... 71" 

Illustrated by Frkdi kick Rkmincton. 

The squatter and his train-The settler and his homestead-Cattle ranges and the cowboys-Scenes on the great plains 
— A cattle luneral — The women of the ranch. 

CHAPTER XVTH, 

The Interesting Story of Our Difficulties \vith F(,reign Powers. . . 331 

Perpetual peace in,possibl^The Barbary Sta.es-Iluying peace-Uncle Sam aroused-Thrashes the Algerian pirates- 
A sp cndKl victory Kn>g Uomba brought to terms-Austria and the Kos.ta case-Captain Ingrahan,-H,: llraverv 
- Dehverorl U sink you "-Austria yields-The Paraguayan trouble- Lopez comes to terms-The Chilian 
>mbrogl,o-Balmaceda-Ihe insultto the United States-American seamen attacked-Matta's tn.pudent letter- 
liackdown— Peace — All's well that ends well, etc. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Story of Our War \vith Spain f.,r Cup.a's Freedom . . ... 351 

A war for humanity's sake-Ereak,„g off relations-Call for troops-Bombardment of Matanzas-Pri.es capture^l- 

Batt e of Mandla-Dewey's method of fighting-Terrible destruction wrouglU-The thanks of a nation-First loss 

olhfeonAmencanstde-Bombardmentof San Juan-Chasing C erver.a-Bottled up at l.ast-IIobson sinks the 

Merrmtac -Sha ter s army of invasion-The battle of Santiago-Destruction of Ccrvera's fleet-Fall of the 

city-Other notable battles-Effects of the war in America and Spain, 

CHAPTER XX. 

The United States Becomes a World Power >^, 

AffatrsmCttba and Porto K.co- Dewey's promotion and return-The Ph.lippine situation-Aguinaldo's insurrection 
-The „.>r n, Lu^on-The Phd.ppnre commission-Amnesty proclain,ed-Presidential nominations in 19CX.- 
Party pktforms-AITa.rs ,n Chtna-The Boxer ou.break-The foreigners in Peking-The new census, ,90.^ 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The United States and the 20TH Century Proiu.em ... ,0- 

^'"^^rThe1Jlr°?^'^f7T"^"~'''^ '"^^^^^""" ^^"^'-■■"^ liay-Pauncelote Treaty-Pan-An^eriiaJ Co,> 
Prussk Th r 'm w T ^".1"'^>r''-^''°""°"' °' industry-Cuba and sugar duty-V.sit of Prince Henry , 1 
Prussia— The Danish West Indies— Philippine affairs. ^ 

CHAPTER XXII. 

How Our National (Iovernment Does its \Vork 

The National Govemment-Congress-IIow composed-Duties-Executive-Election of Prcsident-Cabinet-Uidil 
rnL"~UrrStates.'""" '°"''-^"^'^"^' system-Rdation of States to Na.ion-The rights and duties of citizens 













:yy.m'i:i.f&:S 






*^^^'irf»-'^Ml-?il? ' 'i ■'■■■ 

-•.l'*^»:'V'''<-'W' ' ■ . •': . b.^B^ ->. ~ ivr. .mat ,.j, ,\> 




AN APACHE HOME. 



The 5tory of Christopher Columbus and 

What He Did. 




When civilization had grown hoary 
with age in the orient, there still remained 
in the western hemisphere a vast land of 
marvelous wealth and resources — a con- 
tinent undiscovered and undreamed of. 
True, three hundred years before Christ 
Aristotle had said the world was round, 
and that by sailing west from Athens 
one might touch the shores of eastern 
Asia. Nearly four hundred years later, 
Seneca, the philosopher of Rome, under 
Nero, made a similar affirmation. Fully 
nine hundred years further down the 
vistas of time the Norsemen first planted 
foot upon American soil, and they claim 
to have done so more than once again 
during the next three hundred years. 
But they either lacked the intelligence or the enterprise to make their discov- 
eries known, and America lay in oblivious darkness until Columbus came. 

It was the glory of Italy to furnish the greatest of the discoverers of the 
New World. Not only Columbus, but Vespucci (or Vespucius), the Cabots, and 
Verazzani were born under Italian skies; yet singularly enough the country of 
the Csesars was to gain not a square foot of territory for herself where other 
nations divided majestic continents between them. So, too, in the matter of 
Columbus biography and investigation, up to the present time but one Italian, 
Professor Francesco Tarducci, has materially added to the sum of the world's 
knowledge in a field pre-eminently occupied by Washington Irving, Henry 
Harrisse, and Roselly de Lorgues, a Frenchman — these comprising the powerful 
original writers in Columbian biography. 

19 



CriRISTOl'HER COLUMBUS. 



20 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



In treating- our subject we naturally begin at the starting point of 
biography, the birthplace. The generally accepted statement has been that 
Columbus was born at Genoa, especially as Columbus begins his will with the 
well-known declaration, "I, being born in Genoa." 

But it has been asserted by numerous writers that in this Columbus 
was mistaken, just as for a long time General Sheridan was mistaken in 
supposing himself to have been born in a little Ohio town, when he learned 

within a year or two of his death.^ 
that he was born in Albany, N. Y. 
■ ' ■ " But passing this, it remains to be 

k. said that the evidence of the Geno- 

ese birth of Columbus may now be 
considered as fully established. As 
to the time of his birth there has 
been not a little question. Henry 
Harrisse, the American scholar al- 
ready referred to, placed it between 
March 25th, 1446, and March 20th, 
1447. This, however, we can hardly 
accept, especially as it would make 
Columbus at the time of his first 
naval venture only thirteen years of 
age. Tarducci gives 1435 or 1436 
as the year of his birth. This is also 
the date given by Irving, and it 
would seem to be the most proba- 
ble. This is the almost decisive 
testimony of Andres Bernaldez, bet- 
ter known as the Curate of Los 
Palacios, who was most intimate with 
Columbus and had him a great deal 
in his house. He says the death of 
Columbus took place in his seven 
tieth year. His death occurred May 20th, 1506, which would make the year 
of his birth probably about 1436. And now starting with Genoa as the 
birthplace of Columbus and about the year 1435 or 1436 as the time of his 
birth, we proceed with our story. 

Christopher Columbus (or Columbo in Italian) was the son of Dominico 
Columbo and Susannah Fontanarossa his wife. The father was a wool carder, 
a business which seems to have been followed by the family through several 
generations. He was the oldest of four children, having two brothers, 




MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS AT GENOA. 



COLUMBUS AT PORTUGAL. 21 

Bartholomew and Giacomo (James in English, in Spanish, Diego), and one 
sister. Of the early years of Columbus little is known It is asserted by 
some that Columbus was a wool comber — no mean occupation in that day — 
and did not follow the sea. On the other hand, it is insisted — and Tarducci 
and Harrisse hold to that view — that, whether or not he enlisted in expeditions 
against the Venetians and Neapolitans (and the whole record is misty and 
uncertain), Columbus at an early age showed a marked inclination for the 
sea, and his education was largely directed along the lines of his taste.s, and 
included such studies as geography, astronomy, and navigation. Certain it 
is that when Columbus arrived at Lisbon he was one of the best geographers 
and cosmographers of his age, and was accustomed to the sea from infancy.* 
Happily his was an age favorable for discovery. The works of travel were 
brought to the front. Pliny and Strabo, sometime forgotten names, were 
more than Sappho and Catullus, which a later but not a better age affected. 
The closing decade of the fifteenth century was a time of heroism, of deeds 
of daring, and discovery. Rude and unlettered to some extent, it may be 
conceded it was ; yet it was far more fruitful, and brought greater blessings 
to the world than are bestowed by the effeminate luxury which often character- 
izes a civilization too daintily pampered, too tenderly reared. Life then was 
at least serious. 

Right here it may be in place to state how invention promoted Columbian 
discovery. The compass had been known for six hundred years. But at this 
time the quadrant and sextant were unknown ; it became necessary to discover 
some means for finding the altitude of the sun, to ascertain one's distance 
from the equator. This was accomplished by utilizing the Astrolabe, an 
instrument only lately used by astronomers in their stellar work. This inven- 
tion gave an entirely new direction to navigation, delivering seamen from the 
necessity of always keeping near the shore, and permitting the little ships — 
small vessels they were — to sail free amidst the immensity of the sea, so that a 
ship that had lost its course, formerly obliged to grope its way back by the 
uncertain guidance of the stars, could now, by aid of compass and astralobe, 
retrace its course with ease. Much has justly been ascribed to the compass as 
a promoter of navigation ; but it is a question if the astralobe has not played 
quite as important a part. 

The best authorities place the arrival of Columbus at Lisbon about the year 
1470. It is probable Columbus was known by reputation to Alfonso V, King 
of Portugal. It is unquestionable that Columbus was attracted to Portugal 
by the spirit of discovery which prevailed throughout the Iberian peninsula, 
fruits of which were just beginning to be gathered. Prince Henry of Portugal, 



♦ Tarducci, I, 41. 



22 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



who was one of the very first of navigators, if not the foremost explorer of his 
day, had estabUshed a Naval College and Observatory, to which the most 
learned men were invited, while under the Portuguese flag the greater part of 
the African coast had been already explored. Having settled in Lisbon, at the 
Convent of All Saints, Columbus formed an acquaintance with Felipa Monis de 
Perestrello, daughter of Bartholomew de Perestrello, an able navigator but poor, 
with whom and two others Prince Henry had made his first discovery. The 
acquaintance soon ripened into love, and 
Columbus made her his wife. Felipa' s father 




COLUMBUS'S ARRIVAL AT THE CONVENT OF I.A RABIDA. 



soon died, and then with his wife and her mother Columbus moved to Porto 
Santo, where a son was born to them, whom they named Diego. Felipa hence 
forth disappears from history ; there is no further record of her. At Porto 
Santo Columbus supported his family and helped sustain his aged father, who 
was living poorly enough off at Savona, and who was forced to sell the little 
property he had, and whose precarious living led him to make new loans and 
incur new debts. 



COLUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL. 



23 



Meanwhile Columbus was imbibing to the full the spirit of discovery so 
widely prevalent. It was not his wife who materially helped hitn at this time, as 
has been asserted, but his mother-in-law, who, observing the deep interest that 
Columbus took in all matters of exploration and discovery, gave him all the 
manuscripts and charts which her husband had made, which, with his own 
voyages to some recently discovered places, only renewed the burning desire 
for exploration and discovery. The leaven was rapidly working. 

But the sojourn at Portugal must be briefly passed over. The reports that 
came to his ears while living at Porto .Santo only intensified his convictions of 
the existence of an empire to the West. He heard of great reeds and a bit of 
curiously carved wood seen at sea, floating from the West ; and vague rumors 
reached him at different times, of "strange lands" in the Atlantic — most if not 
all of them mythical. But they continued to stimulate interest as they show the 
state of public thought at that time respecting the Atlantic, whose western regions 
were all unknown. All the reports and all the utterances of the day Columbus 
watched with closest scrutiny. He secured old tomes for fullest information as 
to what the ancients had written or the moderns discovered. All this served to 
keep the subject fresh in his mind, nor would it "down," for his convictions were 
constantly ministered to by contemporary speculators. Toscanelli, an Italian 
mathematician, had written, at the instance of King Alfonso, instructions for a 
western route to Asia. With him Columbus entered into correspondence, 
which greatly strengthened his theories. 

Now they came to a head. Constant thought and reflection resulted in 
his conception of an especial course to take, which, followed for a specific time, 
would result in the discovery of an empire. And the end ! He would subdue 
a great trans-Atlantic empire, and from its riches he would secure the wealth to 
devote to expeditions for recovering the Holy Land, and so he would pay the 
Moors dearly for their invasion of the Iberian peninsula, — a truly fanciful but 
not a wholly unreasonable conception, as the times were. 

COLUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL. 

At last he found means to lay his project before the King of Portugal. 
But the royal councillors treated the attempt to cross the Atlantic as rash and; 
dangerous, and the conditions required by Columbus as exorbitant. The 
adventurous King, John II, — Alfonso had died in 1481 — had more faith in his 
scheme than his wise men, and, with a dishonesty not creditable to him, 
attempted at this time to reap the benefit of Columbus' studies and plans by 
sending out an expedition of his own in the direction and by the way traced in 
his charts. But the skill and daring of Columbus were wanting, and at the 
first mutterings of the sea the expedition sought safety in flight. It turned 
back to the Cape de Verde islands, and the officers took revenge for their 



24 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

disappointment by ridiculing the project of Columbus as the vision of a day 
dreamer. O, valiant voyagers ! — New Worlds are not discovered by such 
men as you ! 

Columbus's brother Bartholomew had endeavored about this time to 
interest the British monarch in the project, but the first of the Tudors had too 
much to do in quelling insurrection at home, and in raising revenues by illegal 
means, to spend any moneys on visionary projects. Henry III would have 
none of him. 

Meantime, indignant at the infamous treatment accorded him, and with 
his ties to Portugal already sundered by the death of his wife, he determined 
to shake the dust of Portugal off his feet, and seek the Court of Spain. He 
would start at once for Cordova, where the Spanish Court then was. Leaving 
Lisbon secretly, near the close of 1484, he chose to follow the sea coast to Palos, 
instead of taking the direct inland route, and most happily so ; for, in so doing 
he was to gain a friend and a most important ally ; this circumstance the 
unthinking man will ascribe to chance, but the believer to Providence. Weary 
and foot-sore, on his journey, he finally arrived at Palos, then a small port on 
the Atlantic, at the mouth of the Tinto, in Andalusia ; here hunger and want 
drove him to seek assistance from the charity of the Monks, and ascending the 
steep mountain road to the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de La 
Rabida, he met the pious prior, Father Juan Perez, who, struck with his 
imposing presence, despite his sorry appearance, entered into conversation with 
him. 

As the interview grew in interest to both the parties, Columbus was led to 
impart to the prior his great project, to the prior's increasing wonder, for in Palos 
the spirit of e.xploration was as regnant as in Lisbon. Columbus was invited 
to make the Convent his place of sojourn, an invitation he was only too glad 
to accept. Then Father Perez sent for his friend, a well known geographer 
of Palos, and, deeply interested in all that related to exploration and the 
discovery of new lands, the three took the subject into earnest consideration, 
thorough discussion of the question being had. It was not long before 
I Father Perez — all honor to his name ! — became deeply interested in the plans 
of Columbus. To glorify God is the highest aim to which one can address 
himself; of that feeling Father Perez was thoroughly possessed ; and how 
could he more fully glorify him than by aiding in the discovery of new lands 
and the spreading of Christianity there ? Impelled by this feeling, he urged 
Columbus to proceed at once to Cordova, where the Spanish Court then was, 
giving him money for his journey, and a letter of commendation to his friend, 
the father prior of the monastery of El Prado Fernando de Talavera, the 
queen's Confessor, and a person of great influence at Court. There was hop^' 
and there was a period of long and weary waiting yet before him. 



COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT. 25 

Arriving at Cordova, Columbus found tlie city a great military camp, and 
all Spain aroused in a final effort to expel the Moors. Fernando, the Confessor, 
was a very different man from Perez, and instead of treating Columbus kindly, 
received him coolly, and for a long while actively prevented him from meeting 
the king. The Copernican theory, though held by some, was not at this time 
established, and the chief reason why the Confessor opposed Columbus's 
plan was unquestionably because he measured a scientific theory by appeal 
to the Scriptures — ^just as the Sacred Congregation did in Galileo's case a 
century and a half later— just as some well-meaning but mistaken souls do 
to-day. 

At length, through the friendship of de Ouintanilla, Comptroller of the 
Castilian Treasury, Geraldini, the Pope's nuncio, and his brother, Allessandro, 
tutor of the children of Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus was made known to 
Cardinal Mendoza, who introduced him to the king. Ferdinand listened to him 
patiently, and referred the whole matter to a council of learned men, mostly 
composed of ecclesiastics, under the presidency of the Confessor. Here again 
dogma supplanted science, and controverted Columbus's theories by Scriptural 
te.xts, and caused delay, so it was not till 1491 — Columbus had now been 
residing in Spain six years — that the Commission reported the project "vain 
and impossible, and not becoming great princes to engage in on such slender 
grounds as had been adduced." 

The report of the Commission seemed a death-blow to the hopes of 
Columbus. Disappointed and sick at heart, and disgusted at six years of 
delay, Columbus turned his back on Spain, "indignant at the thought of having 
been beguiled out of so many precious years of waning existence." Deter- 
mined to lay his project before Charles VIII, of France, he departed, and 
stopped over at the litde Monastery of La Rabida, from whose Prior, Juan 
Perez, six years before, he had departed with such sanguine hopes, for 
Cordova. 

The good friar was greatly moved. Finally he concluded to make another 
and final effort. Presuming upon his position as the queen's Confessor, Perez 
made an appeal direct to Isabella, and this time with the result that an inter- 
view was arranged, at which Isabella was present. His proposals would have 
at once been accepted but that Columbus demanded powers* which even 



*His principal stipulations were (i) that he should have, for himself during his life, and 
his heirs and successors forever, the office of admiral in all the lands and continents which he 
might discover or acquire in the ocean, with similar honors and prerogatives to those enjoyed by 
the high admiral of Castile in his district. (2) That he should be viceroy and governor-general 
over all the said lands and continents, with the privilege of nominating three candidates for the 
government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns. (3) 
That he should be entitled to reserve for himself one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, 



26 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



^ 



"^v 



de Talavera pronounced "arbitrary and 
presumptuous," though they were of Uke 
character with those conceded by Portu 
fal to Vasco de Gamba. Anfrered and in 
dignant at the rejection of his terms, 
which were conditioned 
only upon his success, 
Cohimbus impulsively 
left the royal presence, 
and taking leave of 
his friends, set 
out for France, 
determined to 



offer his services to 
Louib XII 




ISABELLA HAS A SOBER 
SECOND THOUGHT. 

But no sooner 
had Columbus gone, 
than the queen, who we may 
believe regretted the loss of 
possible glory of discovery, 
hastily despatched a messen- 
ger after him, who overtook 
him when two leagues away 
and brought him back. 

Although Ferdinand 

spices, and all other articles and merchan- 
dises, in whatever manner found, bought, 
bartered, or gained within his admiralty, the 
cost being first deducted. (4) That he, or 
his lieutenant, should be the sole judge in 
all causes and disputes arising out of traffic 
between those countries and Spain, provided 
the high admiral of Castile had similar 
jurisdiction in his district. 



COLUMBUS AND THE MESSENGER. 



FITTING OUT THE EXPEDITION: 



27 



was opposed to the project, Isabella concluded to yield to Columbus his terms 
and agreed to advance the cost, 14,000 florins, about $7,000, from her own 
revenues, and so to Spain was saved the empire of a New World. On May 12 
Columbus took leave of the king and queen to superintend the fitting out of 
the expedition at the port of Palos. The hour and the man had at last met. 



FITTING OUT THE EXPEDITION. 

What thoughts and apprehensions filled the heart and mind of Columbus 
as he at last saw the yearning desires of years about to be met, may be to some 
extent conceived ; they certainly cannot be expressed. Not a general at the 
head of his great army who, at a critical moment in battle, sees the enemy make 
the false move which insures him the victory, could feel more exultant than 
Columbus must have felt when he left the pres- 
ence of the Spanish Court, and, after seven years 
of weary and all but hopeless waiting at last saw 
the possibilities of the great unknown opening up 
before him, and beheld, in a vision to him as clear 
and radiant as the sun shining in the heavens, a 
New World extending its arms and welcoming him 
to her embrace. It would seem as if everything 
now conspired to atone for the disappointing past. 
His old tried friend, Perez, prior of the La Rabida 
m.onastery. near Palos, received him with open arms, 
and well he might, for had not his kind offices 
made success possible ? And the authorities, as if 
to make good the disappointments of seven years, 
could not now do too much. All public officials, of 
all ranks and conditions in the maritime borders of 
Andalusia were commanded to furnish supplies and 
assistance of all kinds. Not only so, but as superstition and fear made ship 
owners reluctant to send their vessels on the expedidon, the necessary ships 
and men were to be provided, if need be, by impressment, and it was in this 
way vessels and men were secured. 

In three months the expedition was ready to sail. The courage of 
Columbus in setdng sail in untried waters becomes more evident when we 
consider the size of the ships comprising the little expedition. They were 
three in number ; the largest of them, the Santa Maria, was only ninety feet 
long, being about the size of our modern racing yachts. Her smaller consorts, 
the Pinta and the Nina, were litde caravels, very like our fishing smacks, 
without any deck to keep the water out. The Santa Maria had four masts, 
of which two were square rigged, and two fitted with lateen sails like those 




CARAVELS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
{A/ter an ensrai'ing publi^hfj in 1SS4) 



28 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

used on the Nile boats ; this vessel Columbus commanded. Martin Alonzo 
Pinzon commanded the Pinta, and his brother, Vincente Yanez Pinzon, the 
Nina. The fleet was now all ready for sea ; but before setting sail Columbus 
and most of his officers and crew confessed to Friar Juan Perez, and partook 
of the Sacrament. Surely such an enterprise needed the blessing of heaven, 
if any did ! 

It was before sunrise on Friday morning, August 3, 1492, that Columbus 
with 30 officers and adventurers and 90 seamen, in all 120 souls, set sail, "in 
the name of Christ," from behind the little island of Saltes. Those inclined to 
be superstitious regarding Friday will do well to note that it was on a Friday 
Columbus set sail from Palos ; it was on Friday, the 12th of October, that he 
landed in the New World ; on a Friday he set sail homeward ; on a Friday, 
again, the 15th of February, 1493, land was sighted on his return to Europe, 
and that on Friday, the 15th of March, he returned to Palos. The story of that 
eventful trip has never ceased to charm the world, nor ever will so long as 
the triumphs of genius, the incentives of religion, and the achievements of 
couragfe have interest for mankind. 

It was Columbus's intention to steer southwesterly for the Canary Islands, 
and thence to strike due west — due to misconception occasioned by the very 
incorrect maps of that period. On the third day out the Pinta's rudder was 
found to be disabled and the vessel leaking, caused, doubtless, by her owner, 
who did not wish his vessel to go, — the ship having been impressed — and 
thinking to secure her return. Instead of this, Columbus continued on his 
course and decided to touch at the Canaries, which he reached on the 9th. 
Here he was detained for some weeks, till he learned from a friendly sail that 
three Portuguese war vessels had been seen hovering off the island Gomera, 
where he was taking in wood, water, and provisions. Apprehensive, and 
probably rightly so, that the object was to capture his fleet, Columbus lost 
no time in putting to sea. 

AND NOW FOR THE NEW WORLD. 

It was early morning on the 6th of September that Columbus again set 
sail, steering due west, on an unknown sea. He need fear no hostile fleets, 
and he was beyond the hindrance of plotting enemies on shore ; and yet so far 
from escaping trouble it seemed as if he had but plunged into deeper tribulations 
and trials than ever. 

As the last trace of land faded from view the hearts of the crews failed 
them. They were going they knew not where ; would they ever return ? 
Tears and loud lamentings followed, and Columbus and his officers had all they 
could do to calm the men. After leaving the Canaries the winds were light and 
baffling, but always from the East. On the iith of September, when about 



AN ASTRONOMIC DISCOVERY. 



29 



450 miles west of Ferro, they saw part of 
a mast floating by, wliich, from its size, 
appeared to have belonged to a vessel of 
about 120 tons burden. To the crew this 
meant the story of wreck ; why not pro- 
phetic of their own ? The discovery only 
added to their fears. And now a remark- 
able and unprecedented phenomenon pre- 




sented itself "As true 
as the needle to the 
pole " may be a pretty 
simile, but it is false in 
fact. For, on the 13th 
of September, at night- 
fall, Columbus, for the 
first time in all his experience, discovered that the needle did not point to 
the North star, but varied about half a point, or five and a half degrees to the 
northwest. As he gave the matter close attention Columbus found the variation 



■" - . .li «i (5 

THE ECLIPSE OF THE bUN, Ab PREUILILU i. 



3° 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



to increase with every day's advance. This discovery, at first kept secret; 
was early noticed by the pilots, and soon the news spread among the crews, 
exciting their alarm. If the compass was to lose its virtues, what was to become 
of them on a trackless sea ? Columbus invented a theory which was ingenious 
but failed wholly to allay the terror. He told them that the needle pointed to 
an exact point, but that the star Polaris revolved, and described a circle around 
the pole. Polaris docs revolve around a given point, but its apparent motion is 
slow, while the needle does not point to a definite fixed point. The true expla- 
nation of the needle variations — sometimes it fluctuates thirty or forty degrees — 
is to be found in the flowing of the electrical currents through the earth in 
different directions, upon which the sun seems to have an effect. 

Columbus took observations of the sun every day, with an Astrolabe, and 
shrewdly kept two logs every day. One of these, prepared in secret, contained 
the true record of the daily advance ; the other, showing smaller progress, was 
for the crew, by which means they were kept in ignorance of the great 
distance they were from Spain. 

INDICATIONS OF LAND. 

On the 1 4th of September the voyagers discovered a water-wagtail and a 
heron hovering about the ships, signs which were taken as indicating the 
nearness of land, and which greatly rejoiced the sailors. On the night of the 
15th a meteor fell within five lengths of the Santa Maria. On the i6th the 
ships entered the region of the trade winds ; with this propitious breeze, 
directly aft, the three vessels sailed gently but quickly over a tranquil sea, so 
that for many days not a sail was shifted. This balmy weather Columbus 
constantly refers to in his diary, and observes that "the air was so mild that it 
wanted but the song of nightingales to make it like the month of April in 
Andalusia." On the i8th of September the sea, as Columbus tells us, was "as 
calm as the Guadalquiver at Seville." Air and sea alike continued to furnish 
evidences of life and indications of land, and Pinzon, on the Pinta, which, being 
the fastest sailer, generally kept the lead, assured the admiral that indications 
pointed to land the following day. On the 19th, soundings were taken and no 
bottom found at two hundred fathoms. On the 20th, several birds visited the 
ships ; they were small song birds, showing they could not have come a very 
long distance ; all of which furnished cause for encouragement. 

But still discontent was growing. Gradually the minds of the men were 
becoming diseased through terror, even the calmness of the weather increasing 
their fears, for with such light winds, and from the east, too, how were they 
ever to get back ? However, as if to allay their feelings, the wind soon shifted 
to the southwest. 

A little after sunset on the 25th, Columbus and his officers were examining 



K I 

•^ n 

"'€ 

s- o 

S c 

S 2 

o D 

•-^ — 

> 2 

3 a 



5- < 



^ z 

r o 

3- =0 

■f. 2 






^v 






't 



I. 



■-^4. 



/^■■^-- 



■JB^ 



iltl»« 



SEARCH FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 



INDICATIONS OF LAND. 31 

their charts and discussing the probable location of the island Cijiango,'" which 
die admiral had placed on his map, when from the deck of the Pinta arose the 
cry of " Land ! Land ! " At once Columbus fell on his knees and gave thanks 
to Heaven. Martin Alonzo and his crew of the Pinta broke out into the 
"Gloria in Excelsis," in which the crew of the Santa Maria joined, while 
the men of the Nina scrambled up to the masthead and declared that they, 
too, saw land. At once Columbus ordered the course of the vessels to be 
changed toward the supposed land. In impatience the men waited for the 
dawn, and when the morning appeared, lo ! the insubstantial pageant had faded, 
the cloud-vision, for such it was, had vanished into thin air. The disappoint- 
ment was as keen as the enthusiasm had been intense ; silently they obeyed the 
admiral's order, and turned the prows of their vessels to the west again. 

A week passed, marked by further variations of the needle and flights of 
birds. The first day of October dawned with such amber weather as is common 
on the Atlantic coast in the month of " mists and yellow fruitfulness." The 
pilot on Columbus's ship announced sorrowfully that they were then 520 leagues, 
or 1560 miles, from Ferro. He and the crew were little aware that they had 
accomplished 707 leagues, or nearly 2200 miles. And Columbus had a strong 
incentive for this deception ; for, had he not often told them that the length of 
his voyage would be 700 leagues ? — and had they known that this distance had 
already been made, what might they not have done ! On the 7th of October the 
Nina gave the signal for land, but instead of land, as they advanced the vision 
melted and their hopes were again dissipated. 

The ship had now made 750 leagues and no land appeared. Possibly he 
had made a mistake in his latitude ; and so it was that, observing birds flying 
to the southward, Columbus changed his course and followed the birds, recalling, 
as he says in his journal, that by following the flight of birds going to their 
nestinof and feeding^ orounds the Portuguese had been so successful in their 
discoveries. On Monday, the 8th, the sea was calm, with fish sporting every- 
where in great abundance ; flocks of birds and wild ducks passed by. Tuesday 
and Wednesday there was a continual passage of birds. On the evening of 
this day, while the vessels were sailing close together, mutiny suddenly broke 
out. The men could trust to signs no longer. With cursing and imprecation 

* Cipango was an imaginative island based upon the incorrect cosmography of Toscanelli, 
whose map was accepted in Columbus's time as the most nearly correct chart of any extant. The 
Ptolemaic theory of 20,400 geographical miles as the Equatorial girth was accepted by Columbus, 
which lessened his degrees of latitude and shortened the distance he would have to sail to reach 
Asia. The island Cipango was supposed to be over 1000 miles long, running north and south, 
and the distance placed at 52 degrees instead of the 230 degrees which actually separates the coast 
of Spain from the eastern coast of Asia. The island was placed in about the latitude of tho 
Gulf of Mexico. 



32 LAND, HO! 

they declared they would not run on to destruction, and insisted upon returning 
to Spain. Then Columbus showed the stuff he was made of. He and they, he 
said, were there to obey the commands of their Sovereigns ; they must find the 
Indies. With unruffled calmness he ordered the voyage continued. 

On Thursday, the iith, the spirit of mutiny gave way to a very different 
feeling, for the signs of the nearness of land multiplied rapidly. They saw a 
green fish known to feed on the rocks, then a branch with berries on it, 
evidently recently separated from a tree, floated by them, and above all, a 
rudely carved staff was seen. Once more gloom and mutiny gave way to 
sanguine expectation. All the indications pointing to land in the evening, the 
ships stood to the west, and Columbus, assembling his men, addressed them. 
He thought land might be made that night, and enjoined that a vigilant lookout 
be kept, and ordered a double watch set. He promised a silken doublet, in 
addition to the pension guaranteed by the Crown, to the one first seeing land. 

LAND, HO ! 

That night, the ever memorable night of Thursday, opening into the 
morning of Friday, the 12th of October, not a soul slept on any vessel. The 
sea was calm and a good breeze filled the sails, moving the ships along at 
twelve miles an hour ; they were on the eve of an event such as the world had 
never seen, could never see again. The musical rippling of the waves and the 
creaking of the cordage were all the sounds that were audible, for the birds 
had retired to rest. The hours passed slowly by. It was just past midnight 
when the admiral, with restless eye, sought to penetrate the darkness. Then a 
far-off light came to his vision. Calling Guiterrez, a court officer, he also saw 
it. At two in the mornino- a sfun from the Pinta, which led the other boats, 
gave notice that land was at last found. A New World had indeed been 
discovered. The hopes of years had attained their fruition. It was Rodrigo de 
Triana, a seaman, who first saw land — though, alas ! he received neither promised 
doublet nor pension. Friday, the 12th of October, 1492, corresponding to the 
2 1st of October, 1492, of the present calendar, was the ever memorable day. 

The morning ligrht came, and, liftingr the veil that had concealed the 
supreme object of their hopes, revealed a low, beautiful island, not fifty miles 
long, and scarcely two leagues away. Columbus gave the signal to cast anchor 
and lower the boats, the men to carry arms. Dressed in a rich costume of 
scarlet, and bearing the royal standard, upon which was painted the image of 
the crucified Christ, he took the lead, followed by the other captains, Pinzon and 
Yanez. Columbus was the first to land ; and as soon as he touched the shore 
he fell down upon his knees and fervently kissed "the blessed ground" three 
times, returning thanks to God for the great favor bestowed upon him. The 
others followed his example ; and then, recognizing the Providence which had 



THE NEWLY FOUND LAND. 33 

crowned his efforts with success, he gave the name of the Redeemer — San 
Salvador — to the discovered island, which was called by the natives " Guana- 
hani." * And now the crews, who but a few days previously had reviled and 
cursed Columbus, gathered around, asking pardon for their conduct and prom- 
ising complete submission in future. 

Columbus supposed at last he had reached the opulent land of the Indies, 
and so called the natives Indians. But it was an island, not a continent or an 
Asiatic empire, he had found; an island "very large and level, clad with the 
freshest trees, with much water in it, a vast lake in the middle, and no 
mountains." 

The natives dwelling on the island were found to be a well-proportioned 
people with fine bodies, simple in their habits and customs, friendly, though shy 
in manner, and they were perfectly naked. They thought the huge ships to be 
monsters risen from the sea or gods come down from heaven. Presents were 
exchanged with them, including gold bracelets worn by the natives. Inquiry 
was made as to where the gold came from. For answer the natives pointed by 
gestures to the southwest. Columbus tried to induce some of the natives to go 
with him and show where the land of gold was to be found. But this they 
refused to do; so on the next day (.Sunday, the 14th), taking along by force 
seven natives, that he might instruct them in Spanish and make interpreters of 
them, he set sail to discover, if possible, where gold was to be had in such 
abundance, and which, he thought, must be Cipango. 



* It is simply impossible to say which one of that long stretch of islands, some 3000 in 
number, extending from the coast of Florida to Ha'iti, as if forming a breakwater for the island of 
Cuba, Guanahani is. Ojiinion greatly varies. San Salvador, or Cat Island, was in early favor; 
Humboldt and Irving — the latter having the problem worked out for him by Captain A. S. 
Mackenzie, U. S. N. — favored that view. The objections are that it is not "a small island " as 
Columbus called it, and it does not answer to the description of having "a vast lake in the 
middle" as Columbus says of Guanahani in his journal. Navette advocates the Grand Turk 
Island which has the lake. Watling's Island was first advocated by Munoz and accepted by 
Captain Beecher, R. N., in 1856, and Oscar Perchel in 185S. Major, of the British Museum, has 
taken up with Watling's Island, as did Lieutenant J. B. Murdoch, U. S. N., after a careful 
examination in 1884. This view is accepted by C. A. Schott of the U. S. Coast Survey. On the 
other hand, Captain G. V. Fox, U. S. N., in 1880, put forth an elaborate claim for Samana, based 
upon a very careful examination of the route as given in Columbus's journal. This claim, with 
careful consideration of other conditions, has been very carefully examined by Mr. Charles H. 
Rockwell, an astronomer, of Tarrytown, N. Y. Mr. Rockwell assents to Captain Fox's view, 
which he finds confirmed by the course Columbus took in bringing his ship to land. He also 
traverses Captain Beecher's claim for Watling's Island, which he finds to be inconsistent with 
Columbus's narrative. As we have said, the problem is beset with difficulties, both as relates to 
the sailing course, and the extent and topography of the island ; and at the present time it appears 
to be well-nigh insoluble. Where the external conditions are met, the internal conditions, including 
the large lake, seem wanting; the difficulties in the case seem to be irresistible. 



34 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

He was, of course, in the midst of the Bahama group, and did not have to 
sail far to discover an island. On the 15th he discovered the island Conception. 
On the third day he repeated the forms of landing and took possession, as he 
did also on the i6th, when he discovered an island which he called Fernandina, 
known to be the island at present called Exuma. On the 19th another island 
was discovered, which Columbus named Isabella, and which he declared to be 
"the most beautiful of all the islands" he had seen. The breezes brought 
odors as spicy as those from Araby the Blest ; palm trees waved their fringed 
banners to the wind, and flocks of parrots obscured the sky. It was a land 
where every prospect pleased and Nature bestowed her largesse, from no 
stinted hand. 

But no — it was not a land of gold. Leaving Isabella after a five days' 
sojourn, on Friday, the 26th of October, he entered the mouth of a beautiful river 
on the northeast terminus of the island of Cuba, where sky and sea seem to 
conspire to produce endless halcyon days, for the air was a continual balm and 
the sea bathes the grasses, which grow to the water's edge, whose tendrils and 
roots are undisturbed by the sweep of the tides. Upon the delights that came to 
Columbus in this new-found paradise we cannot dwell ; admiration and rapture 
mingled with the sensations that swept over the soul of the great navigator 
as he contemplated the virgin charms of a new world won by his valor. 

But the survey of succeeding events must be rapid. From the 28th of 
October till November 12th Columbus explored the island, skirting the-shore in 
a westerly direction. He discovered during that time tobacco, of which he 
thought little, but which, singularly enough, proved more productive to the 
Spanish Crown than the gold which he sought but did not find. 

On the 20th of November Columbus was deserted by Martin Pinzon, 
whose ship, the Pinta, could outsail all the others. Martin would find gold for 
himself This was a kind of treachery which too often marred the story of 
Spanish exploration in the New World. 

For two weeks after the Pinta's desertion Columbus skirted slowly along 
the coast of Cuba eastwardly till he doubled the cape. Had he only kept on 
what was now a w^esterly course he would have discovered Mexico. But it was 
not to be. Before sailing he lured on board six men, seven women, and three 
children, a proceeding which nothing can justify. Taking a southwesterly 
course, on Wednesday, December 5th, Columbus discovered Haiti and San 
Domingo, which he called Hispaniola, or Little Spain. The next day he 
discovered the island Tortuga, and at once returned to Haiti, exploring the 
island ; there, owing to disobedience of orders, on Christmas morning, between 
midnight and dawn, the Santa Maria was wrecked upon a sand-bank, near the 
present site of Port au Paix. A sorry Christmas for Columbus, indeed ! 

The situation was now critical. The Pinta. with her mutinous commander 



COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SPAIN. 35 

and crew, was gone ; the Santa Maria was a wreck. But one little vessel 
remained, the little, undecked Nina. Suppose she should be lost, too? — how 
would Spain ever know of his grand discoveries ? Two things were necessary : 
he must at once set out on his return voyage, and some men must be left 
behind. The first thing he did was to build, on a bay now known as Caracola, 
a fort, using the timbers of the wrecked Santa Maria. In this he placed thirty- 
nine men. Nature would surely give them all the shelter and provisions they 
needed. 

COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SPAIN. 

It was not until Friday, January 4, 1493, that the weather was sufficiently 
favorable so that Columbus could hoist sail and stand out of the harbor of the 
Villa de Navidad, as he named the fort, because of his shipwreck, which 
occurred on the day of the Nativity. Two days later the ship Pinta was encoun- 
tered. Pinzon on the first opportunity boarded the Nina, and endeavored, 
but unsuccessfully, to explain his desertion and satisfy the admiral. The two 
vessels put into a harbor on the island of Cuba for repairs, and continued to 
sail along the coast, now and then making a harbor. On Wednesday, the i6th 
day of Januar)^ 1493, they bade farewell to the Queen of the Antilles, and then 
the prows of the Nina and the Pinta, the latter the slower sailer because of an 
unsound mast, were turned toward .Spain, 1450 leagues away. 

It is not possible within the limits of this chapter to follow Columbus from 
day to day as he sails a sea now turbulent and tempestuous, as if to show its 
other side, in marked contrast to the soft airs and smooth waters that had 
greeted the voyagers when their purpose held — 

"To sail beyond the sunset and the baths 
Of all the western stars." 

Nor can we follow with minuteness Columbus in his subsequent career. He had 
made the greatest discovery of his or any other age : he had found the New 
World, and this, more than anything else, has to do with " The Story of America." 
It was on Friday, March 15, 1493, just seven months and twelve days aftei 
leaving Palos, that Columbus dropped anchor near the island of Saltes. It was 
not until the middle of April that he reached Barcelona, where the Spanish 
Court was sitting. As he journeyed to Court his procession was a most 
imposing one as it thronged the streets, his Indians leading the line, with birds 
of brilliant plumage, the skins of unknown animals, strange plants and orna 
ments from the persons of the dusky natives shimmering in the air. When he 
reached the Alcazar or palace of the Moorish Kings, where Ferdinand and 
Isabella were seated on thrones, the sovereigns rose and received him standing. 
Then they commanded him to sit, and learned from him the story of his discovery. 
Then and there the sovereigns confirmed all the dignities previously bestowed 



36 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

The rejoicing over, the good news spread everywhere, and Columbus was 
the hero of the civilized world. Ferdinand and Isabella at once addressed 
themselves to the task of preserving and extending their conquests, and a fleet 
of seventeen vessels and fifteen hundred men was organized to prosecute 
further discovery. It was on September 25, 1493, that Columbus set sail with 
his fleet. On the 3d of November he sighted land, a small, mountainous island, 
which Columbus called Dominica, after Sunday, the day of discovery. Then 
agaui they set sail, and in two weeks discovered several islands in the Caribbean 
waters. It was not till November 27th that Columbus arrived In the harbor of 
La Navidad. He fired a salute, but there was no response. On landing the 
next morning, he found the fortress gone to pieces and the tools scattered, with 
evidences of fire. Buried bodies weie discovered — twelve corpses — those of 
white men. Of the forty who had been left there, not one was present to tell 
the tale. But all was soon revealed, and a harrowing, sorrowful tale it was. 
From a friendly chief, Guacanagari — whom Columbus at first suspected of 
treachery, and was never quite satisfied of his innocence — it was learned that 
mutiny, perfidy, and lust had aroused resentments and produced quarrels, 
resulting in a division into two parties, who, separating and wandering off, were 
easily overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the incensed natives. 

Having discovered the Windward Islands, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, he 
founded a new colony in Hispaniola (Haiti or San Domingo), which he named 
Isabella, in honor of his queen. The place had a finer harbor than the ill-fated 
port of the Nativity. He named his brother Bartolommeo lieutenant governor, 
to govern when he should be absent on his explorations. On February 2, 
1494, Columbus sent back to Spain twelve caravels under the command of 
Antonio de Torres, retaining the other five for the use of the colony, with which 
he remained. The vessels carried specimens of gold and samples of the rarest 
and most notable plants. 

Besides these, the ships carried to Spain five hundred Indian prisoners, who, 
the admiral wrote, might be sold as slaves at Seville — an act which places an 
indelible stain upon the brilliant renown of the great admiral : that one inhuman 
act admits of no palliation whatever. 

Of the troubles that ensued it is impossible to give any account in detail. 
Men returning- disappointed at not finding themselves enriched, complained of 
Columbus as a deceiver, and he was charged with cruelty, and, indeed, there was 
scarcely a crime that presumably was not laid at his door. Then troubles broke 
out in the colony ; the friar, incensed at Columbus, excommunicated him, and the 
admiral, in return, cut off his rations. Then the men, in the absence of Columbus, 
off on trips of exploration, gave way to rapine and passion, and the poor natives 
had no other means than flight to save their wives and daughters. Matters 
proceeded from bad to worse, the colony growing weaker through dissension. 



COLUMBUS SETS FORTH ON A THIRD EXPEDITION. 



M 



Finally four vessels from Spain arrived at Isabella, in October, 1495, laden with 
welcome supplies. These were in charge of Torres, who was accompanied by 
a royal commissioner, Aquado, who was empowered to make full investigation 
of the charges brought against Columbus. It was evident to the admiral that 
he should take early occasion to return to Spain and make explanation to his 
sovereigns. Accordingly, in the spring of 1496, Columbus set sail for Cadiz, 
where he arrived on June 11, 1496. He was well received, and was successful 
in defending himself against the many charges and the clamor raised against 
him. Ships for a third voyage 
were promised him, but it was 
not until the late spring of 1498 
that the expedition was ready for 
sailing. 

COLUMBUS SETS FORTH ON A THIRD 
EXPEDITION. 

On May 30, 1498, with six 
ships, carrying two hundred men, 
besides sailors, Columbus set out 
on his third expedition. Taking 
a more southerly course, Colum- 
bus discovered the mouth of the 
Orinoco, which he imagined to 
be the great river Gihon, men- 
tioned in the Bible (Genesis ii, 13) 
as the second river of Paradise; 
so sadly were our admiral's geo- 
graphy and topography awry ! 
Columbus also discovered the 
coast of Para and the islands of 
Trinidad, Margarita, and Cabaqua, 
and then bore away for Hispaniola. 

It was the old story told over again, with sickening disappointment. He 
found the colony was more disorganized than ever. For more than two years 
Columbus did his best to remedy the fortunes of the colony. At last an 
insurrection broke out. It was necessary to act promptly and decisively. Seven 
ringleaders were hanged and five more were sentenced to death. At this time 
the whole colony was surprised by the arrival at St. Domingo of Francisco de 
Bobadilla, sent out by Ferdinand and Isabella as governor, and bearing 
authority to receive from Columbus the surrender of all fortresses and public 
property. Calumny had done its work ! Bobadilla then released the five 




HAYTIAN INDIAN GIEL SPINNING. 



33 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



men under sentence of death, and finally, when Columbus and Bartholo- 
mew arrived at St. Domingo, Bobadilla caused them both to be put in 
chains, to be sent to Spain. Seldom has a more touching, more cruel, more 
pathetic picture been presented in the world's sad history of cruelty and 



wrong 



Shocked as the master of the ship was at the spectacle of Columbus in 
irons, he would have taken them off, but Columbus would not allow it ; those 
bracelets should never come off but at the command of his Sovereigns ! It was 
early in October, 1500, that the ships with the three prisoners, Columbus and 




COLUMBUS IN IRONS. 



his brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, left Isabella. On the 25th of November, 
after an unusually comfortable passage, the vessels entered the harbor of Cadiz. 
The sight of the venerable form of Columbus in chains as he passed through 
the streets of Cadiz, where he had been greeted with all the applause of a 
conqueror, was more than the public would suffer. Long and loud were the 
indignant protests that voiced the popular feeling. The news of the state of 
affairs coming to Isabella, a messenger was dispatched with all haste to Cadiz, 
commanding his instant release. When the poor broken-hearted admiral came 
into the queen's presence Isabella could not keep the tears back — while he, 




GALLOPS RECAPTURE OF OLDHAM'S BOAT 

Which had been taken hy the Indians from the Puritan exiles in if.36. "Steer straight for the vessel." cried Gallup, and st stioninj 
himself at the bow he opened lire on the Indians. Every "time his gun flashed some one was hit. This incident 

was tJie beginning uf the Pequot War. 




2 
X 

o 

b. 
O 

a 



Id 

X 

(3 

Z 

> 

CO 

09 

< 

o 

X 
< 

o 
o 



HIS LAST VOYAGE. 39 

affected at the sight, threw himself at the feet of his sovereigns, his emotion 
burstino- out in uncontrollable tears and sobs — and this was Columbus's 
reward for discovering a new world ! 

HIS LAST VOYAGE. 

The rest is soon told. The acts of the miserable creature, Bobadilla, were 
instantly disapproved, and he was recalled, but was drowned on his way home. 
Columbus, however, was not allowed to return to Hispaniola, but after two 
years' waiting sailed from Cadiz, May 9, 1502, with four vessels and a hundred 
and fifty men, to search for a passage through the sea now known as the Gulf 
of Mexico. It was the middle of June when Columbus touched at .San 
Domino-o, where he was not permitted to land. He set sail, and was dragged 
by the currents near Cuba. Here he reached the little island of Guanaja, 
opposite Honduras, and voyaged along the Mosquito coast, having discovered 
the mainland, of which he took possession. After suffering from famine and 
many other forms of hardship, he went to Jamaica and passed a terrible year 
upon that wild coast. In June, 1504, provision was made for returning to 
Spain, and on November 7th of that year, after a stormy voyage and narrow 
escape from shipwreck, Columbus landed at San Lucar de Barrameda, and 
made his way to Seville. He found himself without his best friend and pro- 
tector, for Isabella was then on her death-bed. Nineteen days later she 
breathed her last. Ferdinand would do nothing for him. A year and a half of 
poverty and disappointment followed, and then his kindliest friend. Death, came 
to his relief, and his sorrows were at an end. Columbus died on Ascension 
Day, May 20, 1 506, at Valladolid, in the act of repeating, Pater, in w.anus tuas 
dcpoiio spiritum niciim, — "Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." Death 
did not end his voyages. His remains, first deposited in the Monastery of 
St. I'^rancis, were transferred, in 15 13, to the Carthusian Monastery, of Las 
Cuevas. In 1536 his body, with that of his son, Diego, was removed to Hispa- 
niola and placed in the cathedral of San Domingo, where it is believed, and 
pretty nearly certain, they were recently discovered. There seems no sufficient 
evidence that they were ever taken to Havana. 

Thus passed away the greatest of all discoverers, a man noble in purpose, 
daring in action, not without serious faults, but one inspired by deep religious 
feeling, and whose character must be leniently measured by the spirit of the age 
in which he lived. He received from his country not even the reward of the 
flattering courtier, for he was deprived of the honors his due, and for which the 
royal word had gone forth ; and in the end, when the weight of years was upon 
him and there was nothing more he could discover, he was allowed by Ferdinand 
to die in poverty, "with no place to repair to e.xcept an inn." But if Ferdinand 
was not a royal giver Columbus was more than one. For the world will never 



40 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

forget the inscription that, for very shame, was placed upon a marble tomb over 
his remains — he was now seven years dead — and which reads : — 

" A Castilla y a Leon 
Nuevo mundo dio Colon." 
To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world. 

As to the character of Columbus, there is wanting space here for consider- 
ing the subject at any length ; nor does it at all seem necessary. Time has 
given the great navigator a character for courage, daring, and endurance, which 
no modern historian can take from him — least of all can the statement, that the 
falsification of the record of his voyage was reprehensible, stand. It was no 
more reprehensible than the act of Washington in deceiving the enemy at 
Princeton ; and in Columbus's case his foes were the scriptural ones " of his own 
household." Living in an age when buccaneering was honorable and piracy 
reputable, it will not do to gauge Columbus by the standard of our day. It is 
sufficient to say that he was great, in the fact that he put in practice what others 
had only dreamed of. Aristotle was sure of the spheroidicity of the earth, and 
was certain that " strange lands " lay to the west : Columbus sailed and found ; 
— he went, he saw, he conquered. And these pages cannot better be brought 
to a close than by quoting what one of the most thoughtful of recent poets, 
Arthur Hugh Clough, has expressed in his lines, prompted no doubt by his visit 
to this country : — 

" What if wise men had, as far back as Ptolemy, 
Judged that the earth like an orange was round, 
None of them ever said, ' Come along, follow me, 
Sail to the West and the East will be found ' 
Many a day before 
Ever they'd come ashore, 
From the ' San Salvador,' 
Sadder and wiser men, 
They'd have turned back again ; 
And that he did not, but did cross the sea, 
lb a pure wonder, I must say, to me. ' ' 

M. H. B. 



Great Discoverers and Explorers Who 
Followed Columbus. 




SLBAsTIAN CABOT. 



No SOONER had die news of the successful results achieved 
by Columbus reached Spaui than it spread like wild-fire 
through the then civilized world. The three other ereat 
maritime powers — Portugal, England, and France — were 
especially aroused to discover, if possible, lands for them- 
selves. On the one side were Ferdinand and Isabella, 
who were determined to acquire and hold " the strange 
lands to the west," the possession of which had been guar- 
anteed them by the Pope. On the other hand, there were 
the three other great powers, with whom desire of conquest and dominion ex- 
isted no less strongly than with Spain. These nations were resolved to do all 
that lay in their power to acquire dominion ; whatever difficulty might arise with 
Spain could be settled later. 

The first country to compete with Spain in western discovery was England, 
and the first one to follow in the footsteps of Columbus was John Cabot, who, 
with his son Sebastian, was destined to make important discoveries which would 
hand the name of Cabot down to history as surely as that of the great pioneer 
discoverer, Columbus, himself. 

It was as early as 1492 that Senor Puebla, then the Spanish Ambassador 
to the Court of England, wrote to his Sovereigns that "a person had come, like 
Columbus, to propose to the King of England an enterprise like that of the 
Indies." The Spanisli King immediately instructed his minister that he should 
inform Henry VII. that the prior claims of Spain and Portugal would be inter- 
fered with if he commissioned any such adventurer. But the warning came too 
late. 

It is possible that the unsuccessful mission of Bartholomew Columbus to 
England, while the future Admiiral was besieging the Spanish Court, may have 
been the means of arousing in Jolin Cabot's mind a desire to test the truth of 
the new theory of a westward path to the Indies. When the accomplished feat 
of the first voyage to the West Indies fired the imagination of Europe and 
became the. ';hief topic of interest among the maritime nations, even cool- 

41 



42 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

blooded England was measurably excited, and her parsimonious King yielded 
to the urgent prayers of a Genoese navigator, and authorized John Cabot and his 
three sons " to sail to the East, West, or North, with five ships, carrying the 
English flag, to seek and discover all the islands, countries, regions, or provinces 
of pagans in whatever part of the world." We do not learn that this generous 
permission to sail and discover unknown countries was accompanied by anything 
more than a meagre provision for carrying it out, although the King in return 
for the commission given and the single vessel equipped was to have one-fifth 
of the profits of the voyage. According to at least one authority, Cabot had a 
little fleet of three or four vessels fitted out by private enterprise, "wheryn 
dyvers merchaunts as well of London as Bristowe aventured goodes and 
sleight merchaundise wh departed from the West cuntrey in the begynnyng 
of somer — ." We are only sure, however, of one vessel, the Matthews, which 
left Bristol in May of 1497. 

Choosing the most probable of several vague accounts of Cabot's course in 
starting out, we find the sturdy adventurer, with his son and eighteen followers, 
standing to the northward, after leaving the Irish coast, and then westerly into 
the unknown sea. The plan was that which Columbus followed, when he sailed 
from the Island of Ferro in the Canaries, of striking a certain parallel of latitude 
and sticking to it. The transatlantic liners of to-day call that "great-circle 
sailing." 

We have absolutely no record of the month or more spent upon the 
outward course. What strange experiences the Gulf Stream or the Labrador 
current presented to Cabot we can only surmise. There were no summer isles 
and turquoise seas for him. Instead of the song birds, the spicy breezes and 
silver sands that Columbus found, his less fortunate countryman came upon the 
forbidding coast of Labrador, bleak even in the summer time, where he saw no 
human beings. 

It was on the 24th of June, 1497, that those on board of the Matthews 
unexpectedly caught sight of that strange, unknown land. They had no more 
notion than had Columbus of the magnitude of the discovery. This was to their 
appreciation no new world, but rather the extreme coast of the kingdom of the 
Grand Khan — a remote and desolate .shore of India. But their imagination 
peopled it with strange beings ; demons, griffins, and all the uncouth creatures 
of mediaeval mythology dwelt there with the bear and the walrus. If the .South 
was the scene of brighter illusions, of kingdoms where the rulers lived in golden 
halls and fountains which could confer upon the bather the gift of perpetual 
youth, the glamour and legend which the cold crags of the North conjured up 
were not less characteristic. Haunted islands and capes, where the clamor of 
men's voices were heard at night, were known to all the sailors and pilots that 
followed after the Cabots. 



rOHN SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



43 



The land that John Cabot first reached, wherever it was, ne called "Terra 
Firma." There he planted the royal standard of England, after which he seems 
to have sailed southward ; presumably to reverse the course by which he came 
over. Peter Martyr, in relating the wonders that Cabot discovered, recounts 
that "in the seas thereabouts he found so great multitudes of certain Bigge 
fishes much like unto Tunies (which the inhabitants called baccalaos) that they 
sometimes stayed hisshippes." 
Another writer stated that the 
" Beares also be as bold which 
will not spare at mid-day to 
take your fish before your 
face." Coasting probably for 
three hundred leagues, with 
the land to starboard, Cabot 
seems to have discovered New- 
foundland on the mainland side 
and to have passed through 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He 
named several islands and 
prominent points, but the 
names are uncertain and the 
localities problematical. We 
only know that in his opinion 
England would no longer have 
to go to Iceland for her fish, 
and that he relied upon his 
crew to corroborate his state- 
ments when he returned to 
England, because his unsup- 
ported word would not have 
established the fact of his dis- 
coveries. Royalty is not al- 
ways liberal, despite the phrase 
"a royal giver" ; for we learn 

right here of the munificence of the English King, who gave this intrepid sailor 
and discoverer ten pounds as a reward for his labor, and afterwards added a 
yearly pension of twenty pounds, or $ioo. There is something pathetic in this 
fragmentary story of the second continent-finder. The little spasm of approval 
and excitement which his success occ asioned soon died away, and even at its 
height was utterly inadequate to the m.ignitude of his work. The simple sailor 
must have made as great a show as poi^sible upon the stipend granted by the 




CABOT ON THE SHORES OF LABRADOR. 



44 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

king, for we read in a letter of the Venetian, Pasqualigo, that " he is dressed in 
silk and the English run after him like a madman." 

A second voyage of John and Sebastian Cabot to discover the island of 
Cipango, — that illusory land that Columbus had so hopefully sought, — was 
undertaken ; but a storm came up and one of the vessels was much damaged, 
finally seeking refuge in an Irish port. The others sailed into a fog of tradition 
and mystery as dense as that which wrapped the new-found land. We read 
that the expedition returned and that Sebastian Cabot lived to engage in further 
adventures, but of his father we know nothing further, the supposition being 
that he died upon this second expedition. Whether the third traditional voyage 
of Sebastian Cabot in the fifteenth century is fact or fable is not known. His 
subsequent career was mainly in the service of other sovereigns. 

The profits of the second voyage of the Cabots were so meagre as to fail 
to arouse any enthusiasm ; they were so small, in fact, that almost all interest 
died out in England. We read of one or two minor adventures, as those of 
Rut and Grube, the former of whom went to find the northern passage to 
Cathay, in which voyage his two ships encountered vast icebergs, by which one 
of them was lost and the other "durst go no further," and after visiting Cape 
Race returned to England. With these few exceptions England took no part 
in the great work of discovery, by which, little by little, with here an island 
and there a headland, now a river and then a bit of coast, the results of that 
great discovery were combined into that which came to be known, though not 
at first, as the New World. 

Yet Newfoundland was not deserted. Almost from the first the Breton 
and Basque fishermen, hardy and adventurous, frequented its shores The Isle 
of Demons and other uncanny places in the new country were visited by 
fleets of French fishermen's boats, and plenteous cargoes of "Baccalois," or 
cod-fish, were taken eastward yearly for the Lenten market. 

AMERICUS VESPUCIUS AND HIS VOYAGES. 

The year 1500 was one of extreme importance in the making, of New 
World history. The Spanish and Portuguese had already settled their dispute 
over the division of territory, the Pope's decision, to which all good Catholics 
in that day yielded unhesitating obedience, having given to Spain all land dis- 
covered west of a certain meridian line, and to Portugal whatever lay to the 
eastward. In this way Portugal acquired her right to the Brazils ; and she also 
laid claim to Newfoundland. But the great element, time, had just begun to 
work. It was destined, under the ordering of Providence, that Spain and 
Portugal should make conquests, but not hold them. The Anglo-Saxon was 
only then a potentiality'; his greatness was becoming recognized: he was yet to 
sweep the Atlantic, and, finally, settling on the stormy coast to the west, was 



AMLklCUS VESPUCIUS AND HIS VOYAGES. 4^ 

to lay the foundations of a great empire, which was to make it possible to tell 
the inspiring and unique Story of America. 

We now come to Americus Vespucius, who was, singularly enouo-h, and 
through no scheming of his own, to give his name to a country that*should 
rightly have borne the name Columbia. And he was to do this though he 
headed but one expedition. The story must necessarily be brief 

Vespucius was a Florentine— another conspicuous illustration of the fact 
that he was to discover even as Columbus had discovered, but Italy was to reap 
no benefit. He was, indeed, to sow the seed, but the strong arms of others 
were to reap the harvest. On the 9th day of March, 1451, Vespucius was 
born, in the city of Florence. Of a noble but not at all wealthy family, he 
received a liberal education, devoting himself to astronomy and cosmography. 
The fortunes of business took him to Seville, where he became the agent of 
the powerful Medici family. It was in 1490 that he became acquainted with 
Columbus, and was concerned in fitting out four caravels for voyages of dis- 
covery ; he took an active part in assisting Columbus in preparing for his 
second voyage. Vespucius makes the statement which we are prepared to 
accept, that in 1497 he sailed, and probably as astronomer, with one of the 
numerous expeditions that the success of Columbus had called into existence, 
leaving Cadiz on the loth of May of that year. After twenty-seven days of 
sailing, the fleet, consisting of four vessels, reached "a coast which we thought 
to be that of a continent," traversing which they found themselves in "the 
finest harbor in the world." Just what that harbor is it is impossible to say. 
Some writers have placed it as far south as Campeachy Bay ; Chesapeake Bay 
has also been designated, Cape Charles being the point of entering. It is 
impossible, however, owing to Vespucius's loose manner of writing, to fix the 
place with any certainty. But he states that he doubled Cape Sable, the 
southernmost point on the peninsula of Florida. Vespucius tells us that 
while in "the finest harbor" mentioned the natives were very friendly, and 
implored the aid of the whites in an expedition against a fierce race of cannibals 
who had invaded at different times their coasts, carrying away human victims 
whom they sacrificed by the score. The island in question was one of the 
Bahamas, one hundred leagues away. The fleet accordingly bore away, the 
Spaniards being piloted by seven friendly Indians. The Spaniards arrived ofif 
an island called Iti, and landed. 

Here they encountered fierce cannibals, who fought bravely but unsuccess- 
fully against firearms. More than two hundred prisoners were made captive, 
seven of them being presented to the seven Indian guides. But nearly a year 
had passed since they had left Cadiz. The vessels were leaky ; it was time to 
return. Accordingly, leaving some point of the coast line of the United States, 
the fleet reached Cadiz on the 15th of October, 1498, with two hundred and 




AM ITIAN CANNIBAL CHIEF OFFERING A HUMAN SACRIFICE TO THE SUN. 



BOir AMERICA CAME TO BE NAMED. 47 

twenty-two cannibal prisoners as slaves, where they were well received and 
sold their slaves for a good sum. 

Still following Vespucius's statement, on the i6th of May, 1499, he started 
on a second voyage in a fleet of three ships, under Alonzo de Ojeda. In this voy- 
age Ojeda reached the coast of Brazil, and being compelled to turn to the north 
because of the strong equatorial current, they went as far as Cayenne, thence to 
Para, Maracaibo, and Cape de la V ela. They also touched at Saint Domingo. 
The expedition returned to Cadiz on the 8th of September, 1500. Three 
months later Yanez Pinzon, taking- a like course, discovered the greatest river 
on the earth, the Amazon, as will be seen a little further on in this chapter. 
Ojeda just missed that discovery. A year later, for some reason dissatisfied 
with his position — and Vespucius seems to have passed at pleasure from one 
command to another — he entered the service of Emanuel, King of Portugal, 
and took part in an expedition to the coast of Brazil. He wrote a careful 
account of this voyage, which he addressed to some member of the Medici 
family, to whom, in 1504, he sent a fuller narrative of his expedition, which 
was published at Strasbourg. This gave him high reputation as a navigator 
and original discoverer. 

Under the command of Coelho, a Portuguese navigator, on either May 
loth or June loth, 1503, a little squadron, with Vespucius, left the Tagus to 
discover, if possible, Malacca somewhere on the South American coast ; but 
through mishap the fleet was separated, and Vespucius, with his own vessel, 
and later joined by another, proceeded to Bahia. Thence they sailed for 
Lisbon, arriving there, after about a year's absence, on the i8th of June, 1504. 

HOW AMERICA CAME TO BE NAMED. 

In a letter written from Lisbon, in i 504, to Rene, Duke of Lorraine, Ves- 
pucius gives an account of four voyages to the Indies, and says that the first 
expedition in which he took part sailed from Cadiz May 20, 1497, and returned 
in October, 1498. This letter has provoked endless discussions among his- 
torians as to the first discovery of the mainland of America, and it has been 
charged against Vespucius that after his return from his first voyage to Brazil 
he prepared a chart, giving his own name to that part of the country. It is high 
time the name of Vespucius was rid of this stain. It seems to be established 
that at this time the Duke Rene, of Lorraine, a scholar, and one deeply inter- 
ested in the discoveries of the age, caused a map to be prepared for him by an 
energetic young student of geography, a young man named Waldsee-Muller, 
who innocently affixed the name America to the Brazil country. In this way the 
name became fixed, and was eventually taken up by others. It was not till 
nearly thirty years afterward — in 1535 — that the charge of discrediting Colum- 
bus by affixing his own name was brought, and most unjustly so, against Vespu- 



48 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

cius. Latter-day opinion acquits Vespucius of this charge, and now with the 
fact established, at this time of our Cokimbian anniversary, it should no more be 
brought against the distinguished navigator, whose discoveries were important, 
if he did not accomplish all that was expected, and that through no fault of his. 
Vespucius died in Seville, February 2, 15 12 — six years after his predecessor, 
the first Admiral, had passed away. 

YASEZ riNZON AS A VOYAGER. I 

The first man of importance to sail after Ojeda and Vespucci was Vincent 
Yenez Pinzon, who with his brother Ariez Pinzon, built four caravels, little deck- 
less or half-decked yachts, with which he sailed from Palos in the month of 
December, 1499. Going further south than his predecessors, Pinzon bore away 
toward the coast of Brazil, his first land being discovered at a point eight 
decrees north of the equator, near where the town of Pernambuco was afterwards 
built : he was the first Spaniard to cross the equinoctial line. We read that he 
lost sight of the pole-star, a circumstance which must have alarmed his sailors. 
More wonderful still, — most miraculous it must have seemed, — was the finding 
of a great flood of fresh water, at the Equator, out of sight of liind, which 
induced the navigator to seek for a very large river, and he found it ! — for there 
was the mighty Amazon with its mouth a hundred miles wide and sending a 
great tide of fresh water a hundred miles out to sea. At their first landing 
Pinzon' s sailors cut the names of their ships and of their sovereign on the trees 
and the rocks, while he took possession of the land in behalf of Spain. Here 
Pinzon seized some thirty Indians as slaves. The mighty Amazon, with its 
hundred-mile wide mouth, filled the explorers with wonder, as well it might. 
But the capturing of the Indians had created difficulties which endangered 
the safety of the fleet, so that Pinzon deemed it prudent to shorten his stay. 
Accordingly he set sail, and skirting along the coast discovered the Orinoco 
River and Trinidad ; after which they stood across to Hispaniola. A hurricane, 
overtaking the litde fleet nearly put an end to Pinzon's adventure, but he finally 
escaped with the loss of two of his vessels. With the others he returned to 
Spain, only to find that Diego de Lepe had sailed after him and returned before 
him, with a report of the continuance of the South American continent far to 
the southward. 

Rightly Da Gama has no place here, save as a discoverer in times oi 
discovery. A skilled Portuguese mariner, he coasted the eastern shores of 
Africa and visited India. In a second voyage he became involved in hostilities 
with the towns of the Malabar coast. In 1499 he was made Admiral of the 
Indies. He died at Cochin, India, Christmas Day, 1524. 

In 1499, the same year that the Pinzons and Lepe sailed, Pedro Alvarez de 
Cabral was commissioned by the Portuguese King, Emanuel, to follow Vasco da 



PORTUGAL IN THE FIELD. 



49 



Gama's course and establish a trading station on the Malabar coast. Gomez, 
for some reason unknown, sailed by the way of the Cape Verde Islands, and 
taking from thence a much more westerly course than he intended, came, quite 
by accident, upon the Continent that Pinzon and Lepe had so lately left. 
Probably the real cause of Cabral's deflection from his original course was to 
avoid the calms of the Guinea shore. He had no sooner made the strange 
land than he resolved to cruise along it, and concluded that this wonderful 

coast was a continent. Despatching a ship home to Portugal with the news 

with Caspar de Lemos in com- 
mand — he pursued his voyage. 
When Pinzon returned, therefore, 
he not only found that Lepe had 
been there before, but ascertained 
that Portugal pressed its prior 
claim to the coast he had discov- 
ered, based on the Pope's edict as 
well as the voyage of Cabral. 
The King of Portugal, on receiv- 
ing Cabral's message, soon des- 
patched a fleet to discover new 
territory for his crown ; and 
Americus Vespucius, till then in 
the Spanish service, accepted his 
overtures and went with the ex- 
pedition. When Caspar de 
Lemos started for Portugal with 
the news of the discovery of the 
southern continent, Cabral waited 
only a few days and then sailed 
southward. 

The result of this second part 
of his voyage was the discovery 
of the Cape of Good Hope. There the fleet, heretofore so successful, was 
overtaken by a terrific storm, in the course of which four of his vessels went 
down, among them being one which was commanded by the navigator Bar- 
tholomew Diaz. The name which Cabral gave to this new country was Vera 
Cruz. The appellation by which it was afterwards known, of " Brazil " or "the 
Brazils," was taken from the dye wood found there ; an Arabic word being 
borrowed for the purpose. Columbus discovered the new world without 
knowing he had done so, although his work was in pursuance of carefully 
laid plans. Cabral however, like Vespucius off the North American coast, 




VASCO DA GAMA. 
[,From the MSS. of Pedro Barretto de Resdiuda.) 



50 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

was aware from the first that the land he accidentally discovered was the main- 
land of a great continent. 

After his adventure at the Cape of Good Hope Cabral went as far as 
Hindostan and returned with laden ships, in which were immense quantities of 
spices, jewels and rare merchandise. "Verily," said Vespucius, who met him in 
the Cape Verde Islands upon his return voyage, " God has prospered King 
Emanuel." The same year [1500] that the Pinzons and Cabral sailed from 
their respective countries, Portugal sent the brothers Caspar and Miguel 
Cortereal on the first of a series of new expeditions to explore the Northwest. 
The papal line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese possessions was 
called Borgia's meridian, and the suspicion that Cabot's discoveries lay to the 
eastward of this was sufficient cause for an expedition from Lisbon. These were 
unfortunate voyages, for although the region already explored by the Cabots 
was revisited and the flag of Portugal planted in the chill domain of the griffins 
and demons of Breton fancy, yet the wild men and curiosities which they brought 
home were but a sorry exchange for the lives that they cost. From Caspar 
Cortereal's second voyage he never returned. Two of his ships came home, 
and when his brother Miguel went in search of him his flag-ship also was lost, 
with all on board. 

OTHER DISCOVERERS. 

Rodigero de Bastidas and John de la Cosa, sailing with two ships from 
Cadiz, in 1502, discovered the Gulf of Darien, which point Ojeda on his 
second voyage also touched, thence proceeding to the V/est Indies. Following 
these, after a number of smaller adventurers that tried their fortune upon 
the Atlantic, Juan de Solis and Vincent Yanez Pinzon sailed from the Port 
of Saville, six years later. They directed their two caravels toward the 
coast of Brazil, going to the thirty-fifth degree south latitude, where they 
discovered the Rio de la Plata, — the River of Silver, — which they at first 
called Paranaguaza. To them also is due the credit for the discovery of 
Yucatan, on this same voyage. De Solis was by some considered the very 
ablest navigator of his time, and his fame at last induced the King of Spain to 
appoint him to the command of two ships fitted out to discover a passage to the 
Spice Islands, or Moluccas, for which he sailed in October, five years after he 
and Pinzon had made the trip just alluded to. He returned to the la Plata 
River, which stream he entered in January, 15 16, but a tragic fate awaited him. 
Attempting to ascend the river and explore its banks, de Solis and a number of 
his crew were surprised and overpowered by the savages, who with barbaric 
heartlessness roasted and ate the unfortunate Spaniards in the sight of their 
companions on the vessels. The survivors, sickened and terrified by such a 
spectacle, lost no time in escaping from the land of these cannibals. They 
stopped only at Cape San Augustin, where they loaded their vessels with Brazil 



PONCE DE LEON DISCOVERS FLORIDA. 51 

wood, and made the best of their way back to Europe with the sad news. 
In the following year Charles V sent Cordova, with a command of iio men 
in three caravels, into that distant but no longer dreaded West, which still had 
its rewards for the adventurer. 

Upon the shore of Yucatan, where he first landed, at Cape Catoche, the 
Spaniards saw with surprise people who in one respect differed very greatly 
from the natives who had so far been met with in the western voyages, inasmuch 
as they dressed in cotton and other fabrics, instead of going naked and painting 
their bodies. Not only in their dress but in their houses they exhibited signs 
of civilization that e.xcited the wonder of Cordova and his men. 

rONCE DE LEON DISCOVERS FLORIDA. 

Si.x years had passed after the death of Columbus, when, in 15 12, Juan 
Ponce de Leon sailed from Puerto Rico in a northerly direction and discovered 
the peninsula which the Admiral had so nearly found upon his first voyage. 
De Leon first sighted land at about the boundary line separating Florida from 
Georgia. Landing, he took possession in the name of his sovereign, calling 
the new country Florida ; for it was in April, when the Cherokee roses, the wild 
jessamine, and all the multitudinous blossoms of a Floridian spring-time were 
filling the air with their fragrance. The discoverer of this paradise returned to 
Spain, and, obtaining the governorship of the new coast, undertook to enter 
upon its possession. But the savages were otherwise minded. The followers 
of Ponce de Leon were hunted through the tangled growth of the luxuriant 
forests or harassed in their defences behind the sand-dunes, till many of them 
had been killed, and their leader was glad to escape with the little remnant of 
his force. So he re-embarked, abandoning the country ; but the Spaniards 
claimed Florida from that day, in spite of a counter-claim which England 
presented in virtue of the discoveries of the Cabots. 

Later, in 1527, Pamphilo de Narvaes repeated Ponce de Leon's experiment, 
with a similar result. Then Ferdinand de Soto, who had been Governor of 
Cuba, obtained the title of Marquis of Florida, and, with nearly a thousand 
men and ten ships, he landed, in 1539, on the west coast of the peninsula. 
Five years later a little handful of broken, impoverished, beaten, disheartened 
Spaniards, less than a third of the number that had sailed so proudly to the 
conquest of Florida, left its shores to the sole occupancy of the jealous natives 
who inhabited it. There was no perpetual "fountain of youth" there for 
de Soto, but ageing, weariness, and disaster instead. 

When Charles V, of Spain, was beginning to feel the benefit of the con- 
quest in the New World, and Cortez and the Spanish captains and adventurers 
were planting the standard of Spain in rich territory, Francis the First, of France, 
ghafed at the necessity of acknowledging the success of his rival. Francis was 



52 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

one of the most curious characters of European history, a combination of good 
and evil traits. Vanity, culture, sensibility to the influences of art and literature, 
hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness distinguished him. He was the friend of 
philosophers and of those who were far from being philosophers. 

From Florence came Verazzano, a navigator of repute who, unlike most of 
the new world-finders, was by birth a gentleman, descended from men who had 
been prominent in Florentine history. He was appointed to sail westward from 
Dieppe with four ships, in the year 1523, to seek a new passage to that Cathay 
which still lured the hopes of Christendom ; and in passing we may remark 
upon the curious irony of fortune which permitted Italy to lend to other nations 
the men who should win the greenest laurels as discoverers, when she herself 
was unable to claim a foot of territory in the new world. The beginning of 
Verazzano's voyage was puzzling enough. He had not proceeded far from 
Dieppe when a storm overtook him and he escaped with two of his vessels to 
Brittany ; thence he cruised against the Spaniards and finally, having but one 
vessel left out of the four with which he started, he set sail for the island of 
Madeira, and on the 17th of January, 1524, turned the prow of his caravel, the 
Dolphin, westward, to cross the Atlantic. After a passage of forty -five days, 
during which the strange experiences common to such an adventure were not 
lacking, he sighted a low shore where vast forests of pine and cypress rose from 
the sandy soil. This was not far from the present site of Wilmington, North 
Carolina. Among other things the Florentine noticed the presence of many 
fragrant plants " which yeeld most sweete savours farr from the shore." The 
savages who appeared on shore attracted the greatest attention from the voy- 
agers since they were not at all sure what their reception might be when they 
landed for the supply of water of which they stood in need. A boat approached 
as near as possible to the beach, when one of the sailors, taking some gifts as a 
propitiatory offering, jumped overboard and swam through the surf But as he 
neared the beach and saw the throngs of screechingr red men who awaited him 
his courage failed, and flinging his presents among them he endeavored to 
return ; but the savages succeeded in capturing him and returned to the sand, 
where in the sight of the terrified captive they built a great fire. Instead, how 
ever, of cooking him, as he expected, they warmed and dried him, showed him 
every mark of affection, and then led him to the shore and let him go. At the 
next place they touched, the crew of the Dolphin showed their appreciation 
of the courtesy of the Indians by stealing one of their children. 

From the Carolinas Verazzano's course was northward along the coast, 
his first anchorage being in the bay of New York. Into that beautiful harbor, 
through the Narrows and under the green and tree-covered banks of Staten 
Island, he rowed, being met by numerous canoes filled with Indians who came 
out to welcome him. From New York the Dolphin followed the Long Island 



THE FRENCH VISIT NEW ENGLAND. 53 

coast as far as Block Island, and from there to the harbor of Newport, where for 
fifteen days they rested, being entertained by two savage chiefs, who did all that 
lay in their power to dazzle the eyes of their white visitors with the signs of opu- 
lence, as evidenced by copper bracelets, wampum belts, the skins of wild 
beasts, etc. 

From here the little vessel steered along the New England coast, neither offi- 
cers nor seamen finding much to attract them. The Indians were suspicious and 
inhospitable, driving them back with shouts and showers of arrows when they 
ventured ashore in their boats. The seaboard of Maine was visited, and then 
the banks of Newfoundland, from which last point Verazzano, whose expedition 
was tor us, perhaps, the most significant of all, sailed back for France, having 
explored the American coast from Hatteras to Newfoundland. 

In the following year Verazzano sailed again from France with a fleet, but 
no news of that expedition ever came back, and the mystery of its loss chilled 
the ardor for discovery in that country, so that for several years we hear of no 
further adventures to the new world. But in 1534 the persuasions of Admiral 
Chabot led to the issuing of a commission to Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, who 
sailed from that port in the same year with two ships and one hundred and 
twenty-two men. He circumnavigated Newfoundland and explored the Gulf 
of .St. Lawrence, and upon a second voyage sailed up the river of the same 
name for three hundred leagues, as far as the " great and swift Fall." On the 
site of Montreal he visited an Indian town. Having attempted the settlement 
for which he had been sent out, Cartier went back to France only to return with 
a larger expedition to Canada five years later. 

Haifa century of discovery and adventure had elapsed. The map-makers 
of Europe during that time were kept busy by the changes made necessary 
from fresh data requiring the readjustment of old lines. From Columbus to 
Verazzano and Cartier, the whole coast, with a few exceptions, had been discov- 
ered, from the stony crags of Labrador to the Cape of Good Hope. It only 
remained now for the round-up of this magnificent hunt, which was accom- 
plished by the intrepid Magellan, prince of navigators, who, first turning west- 
wardly across the Pacific found the true path to far-off Cathay, which the mighty 
Genoese had sought so patiently, so grandly, so mistakenly, among the isles of 
June and the pearl banks of the Caribbean Sea. 

More than ordinary romance and interest attend the story of Vasco Nunez 
de Balboa. His appearance in the story of Spanish conquest in America, if 
not dignified, is captivating to the imagination. Martin Fernandez de Enciso, 
the geographer, sailed from St. Domingo to go to the relief of the explorer, 
Ojeda, who was dying of famine at San Sebastian. Among the stores in his 
vessel was a cask which contained something more valuable than the bread 
which it was invoiced as containing. When Enciso's ships had got fairly out 



54 STORY OF AMERICA. 

to sea, Balboa crept out of his cask and presented himself to the commander, 
who could, after all, do nothing but scold, as it was then too late to return the 
fugitive to the creditors from whom he had taken that means of escaping. 
There were some threats of putting the culprit ashore on a small desert island, 
but that was not done, or one of the most popular stories of the New World 
would have been unwritten. 

But by the time the expedition in search of Ojeda had been abandoned 
and the followers of Enciso, reinforced by the haggard remnant of Ojeda's 
force, had reached the Gulf of Uraba, Balboa was no inconsiderable figure in 
that company. 

When the building of Santa Maria del Darien had commenced and Enciso's 
temper provoked an insurrection, the stowaway, Balboa, was spoken of as his 
successor. The new-comers had encroached on the province of Nicuesa, who 
had been given a province in Darien, of which he was Governor, at the same 
time that Ojeda was similarly favored by King Ferdinand. Some of them, 
therefore, were for crivino- their allegiance to that Governor. The matter was 
settled by giving Balboa charge till Nicuesa should come. 

Nicuesa, embittered by famine and all manner of hardship, was rejected by 
the men of Darien when he finally came to them, and, turning his poor litde 
brigantine seaward, was never heard from again. The cruelty shown to him at 
this time was afterward charged upon Balboa, but he was cleared by the court. 
He, however, showed little kindness to the irate Enciso, who went home to 
Spain an avowed enemy, complaining bitterly of the treatment he had received 
at the hands of the stowaway, whom, doubtless, he regretted not having 
"marooned," /. c, cast on a desert island, when he had the chance. 

Balboa next explored Darien. He married a native princess, thus making 
the old chief Comogre, her father, his firm friend. The first evidence which the 
Spaniards had of the superior claims of the people of Central America to civil- 
ization was at Comogre's house, where " finely wrought floors and ceilings," a 
chapel occupied by ancestral mummies, and other signs of ease and leisure, 
appeared. But dearer than anything else was the sight of ornaments and flakes 
of virgin gold. This the Spaniards, with their usual propensity, acquired, and 
marveled at the strange tales which were told them of a land further to the west- 
ward where the people made bowls and cups of the yellow metal. This was 
the first news they had received of the kingdom of Peru. Balboa sent the 
whole of the story and a fifth of the gold to Spain as Ferdinand's share, but the 
ship went down on the voyage. Its arrival at Court would have done more 
than anything else to check the legal proceedings which were being commenced 
against him at home. However, Balboa was appointed Captain-General of 
Darien by the Government of Hispaniola, which was some little comfort to 
him. 



STORY OF AMERICA. 

Balboa next advanced across the Istlinius to find 
he had heard. On the twenty- 
hfth of September, in i 513, after 
some trouble with the Indians, 
Vasco Nuiiez de Balboa stood 
where the poet Keats has made 
Cortez stand for some years 
past, on a peak in Darien, a 
mountain in the country of 
Ouarequa, and looked with the 
glad eyes of a discoverer on the 
blue waters of the mighly Pa- 



the great sea " ol 




cific Ocean, that till then 
had had no herald in the; 
Eastern world. Having 
shordy after this gained 
the Pacific coast, Balboa 
returned to Darien with 
the news of his great dis- 
covery, which might have 
gained him the gratitude and reward it merited had not Pedrarias Davila suc- 
ceeded in gaining the royal ear, and with a band of cavaliers, lured to new fields 



BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC. 



56 • STORY OF AMERICA. 

by the golden rumors of Peru, started for Darien. By his commission Davila 
was Admiral and Governor; he was a leading^ figure on the Isthmus for sixteen 
years, and during that time committed so many crimes that the historian Oviedo 
computes that he would have to face two million souls at the judgment day ! 
Oviedo, like the humane Las Casas, believed that the Indians possessed souls ; 
and though we know how given the Spanish chroniclers were to exaggeration 
and even downright mendacity, still we cannot doubt that enough murders were 
committed during the governorship of Davila to make even the conscience of a 
Spaniard feel uncomfortable. With the cavaliers who came over with Davila 
were Oviedo, the historian already named, and Enciso, Balboa's old commander. 
The first thing that the jealous Davila did was to arrest Balboa on trumped-up 
charges, but they did not suffice to insure his conviction, and about this time the 
news of his great discoveries was beginning to turn the tide in Spain in his favor. 
It is to be said to Balboa's credit that he was very politic in his treatment of the 
Indians, using kindness where the new Governor practiced the utmost cruelty. 
As a result Balboa was regarded with friendly feelings and his rival hated — a 
condition of affairs that could not fail to engender jealousy and danger. 

The Spanish Bishop, who had come with the expedition, strove to patch up 
matters by suggesting a betrothal between Balboa and the daughter of the 
Governor. As the daughter was in Spain, and the alliance could not be con- 
summated for some time, Balboa consented, thoucrh we have no evidence that 
he really contemplated abandoning his beloved Indian wife. The proposed 
marriage was but one article in an important treaty, without which the younger 
man would have been crushed by the elder. 

Before long, however, Balboa again incurred the hatred of his enemy, and 
accepting a treacherous invitation to visit him, was arrested by his old comrade, 
Pizarro, and beheaded, at the age of forty-two, in the land with which his name 
and fame are indissolubly connected. It was just before his last quarrel with 
Davila, which resulted in his untimely end, that Balboa performed one of the 
most astonishing feats in Spanish-American annals ; having taken his ships apart, 
he transported them across the Sierras, and launched them on the Pacific. 
I Ferdinand de Soto was born in Xeres, Spain, in 1500. We first meet with 

him, so far as American exploration is concerned, on accompanying his friend 
and patron Davila [previously referred to in the account of Balboa], on his 
expedition to Darien, of which Davila was Governor, and whose offensive 
administration De Soto was the first to resist. He supported Hernandez in 
Nicaragua in 1527, who perished by the hand of Davila for not obeying his 
instructions. Withdrawing from the service of Davila, in 1528 he explored the 
coasts of Guatemala and Yucatan for 700 miles, in search of the strait which was 
supposed to connect the two oceans. In 1532, by special request of Pizarro, 
he joined him in his enterprise of conquering Peru. He was present at the 



STORY OF AMERICA. 



57 



seizure of the Peruvian Inca, and took part ni the massacre which followed, 
serving the usual apprenticeship in butchery which hardened the hearts and made 
callous the nerves of those who followed the Spanish conquerors: but we are told 
he condemned the murder of the Inca Alahualpa, as well he might ! — Prescott 
has pictured the infamy of this crime in indelible colors. 

In 1537, De Soto was appointed Governor of Cuba, and two years later 
he crossed the Gulf of Mexico to attempt the conqi.iest of Florida at his own 

expense, believing it to be the richest 
province yet discovered. Anchoring 
in Tampa Bay, May 25th, 1539, his 
route was tlirough a couniry made hos- 
tile by the violence ot the Spanish in- 




He continued to march northward, 
reaching, October iSth, 1540, the present site of Mobile, Alabama, and finally 
arriving at the mouth of the Savannah river. That country was then, as it is 
now, flat and sandy, its low forests of pine interspersed with cypress swamps 
and knolls where the live-oaks flourished. Frequent streams intersect portions 
of it. Traveling with such means as De Soto had at his disposal was very slow 
and troublesome. From the Savannah he turned inland, fighting the Indians at 
almost every step, and overcoming mighty obstacles. With nearly a third of 



58 STORY OF AMERICA. 

his men slain or lost, after a winter spent on the Yazoo, and disappointment 
following disappointment as he searched in vain, in his westward course, for the 
cities of gold which he saw in glowing but illusory vision, after a year and a half 
of unparalleled hardships and constant marching, in April, 1542, he discovered 
the Mississippi, that mighty stream whose current flows for four thousand miles^ 
upon which the eyes of a white man had never before rested. This he explored 
for a short distance above and below Chickasaw Bluffs. Here his great career 
ended, for he died of malignant fever. To conceal his death from the Indians, 
his body was wrapped in a mande, and in the stillness of midnight was silently 
sunk in the middle of the stream. His soldiers pronounced his eulogy by griev- 
ing for their loss, while the priests chanted the first requiem ever heard on the 
waters of the Mississippi. 



P 3 

o = 



" :. w 

O r^ — 

"g Z 

CTfp -1 

™S ° 

s =■ « 

» ? -n 
-3- to 

^^ o 

» ?: H 

a o O 

pg" 3D 





j: > 



^ - B 

o - "- 
u £ ^ 



Thrilling Experiences of our Forefatliers in 

the Early Days. 




THE MARIONY HiiUSF., NKW (IRI.FANS, WHERE LOUIS PHILIPPE 
bioprtD IN 1798. 



A FEW years cover the be- 
ginnings of westward migration 
from Europe and the British 
Isles. Great impulses seem to 
be epidemic. The variety of 
causes which led to the planting 
of the American colonies be- 
came operative under diverse 
national and race conditions, so 
that they appear in history as 
the synchronous details of a 
common plan. As the reader 
follows these pages and appro- 
priates all the wonderful and 
inspiring details of this une- 
qualed record of four centuries, 
his interest will deepen and his amazement will keep pace with his interest. 
Finding a barren shore, broken only by the roar of the surf the cries of birds 
and animals, and the whoop of the Indian, he will lay down the volume, having 
discovered that civilization has followed the sun until the two oceans have met — 
connected by an unbroken tide of humanity ebbing and flowing from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific ; and westward the Star of Empire still takes its way ! 

A minute account of the social and political situations in the various king- 
doms of Europe during ihe sixteenth century is not within the scope of this 
work, but it will be well to make a very brief statement of the questions that 
agitated Christendom at this time, and to notice the temper of the times. 

Cupidity and a love of adventure led the Spaniard to the conquest of the 

New World. Spain was then paramount in Europe, most powerful as well as 

most Catholic ; and the controlling motive of her sovereigns was conquest. 

It was not reformation nor revolution that sent her people over seas, but 

4 61 



62 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

the love of power and wealth. In France, on the contrary, the spirit of 
revolt against established dogmas had led to persecution, so that the Hugue- 
nots were glad to find an asylum in the wilderness of the New World. 
Under these conditions the first colonies were attempted in the middle of 
the sixteenth century. Thirty years later a second planting, more general and 
more effectual, was begun. 

At that time Protestant England had a Catholic king. Henry of Navarre 
was upon the throne of France, which he had gained by his apostacy. Holland, 
the mighty little republic, was, under the wise leadership of John of Barne- 
veld and the States General, keeping Catholic Europe in check. Spain 
had been for years planning the conquest of England "as a stepping- 
stone to the recovery of the Netherlands." It will be seen that the very 
causes which led emigrants to colonize the new continent forbade friendship 
or common interests between those of different races, the animosities of the 
Old World being very carefully transplanted to the new along with other 
possessions. 

France made the first attempt at colonization in 1555. One of the leaders 
in the enterprise was Coligny, the Huguenot admiral ; John Ribault and 
Laudoniere were masters of successive expeditions, seeking first the Florida 
coast and afterward establishing a settlement in Carolina. The French have 
• seldom made good colonists, and those of Carolina were no exception to the 
general rule. It is probable that their quarrelsome dispositions would have 
destroyed them in time had not the Spanish claimants of the country, led by 
Menendez, hastened the event. This expedition of the Spaniards was not 
only noteworthy because of the cruel massacre of Ribault and his Huguenot 
followers, but also as the occasion of the founding of the most ancient of 
North American cities, St. Augustine. This occurred in 1564. 

The settlement of St. Augustine v/as followed by a hiatus in which nothing 
was done toward the colonization of America. This was due to the great 
religious war which was then raging in Europe. But in the interval the mis- 
sionary expeditions of the Spanish Franciscans, Ruyz and Espejio, in 1582, 
resulted in the buildine of Santa Fe in New Mexico. There had also been the 
establishment by adventurers of various fishing and trading stations, notably 
the one on the island of New Foundland. 

During the interval England had been steadily growing as a marine power, 
and her navigators had directed men's eyes anew towards the land where so 
many of their countrymen should find refuge. Finally Raleigh, following in 
the footsteps of his famous half-brother. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, obtained a 
patent from Queen Elizabeth, by the terms of which he should become pro- 
prietor of six hundred miles radially from any point which he might discover 
or take, provided he did not encrmr^ Mnon territory otherwise granted by any 




AN INDIAN ATTACK ON BROOKFIELD. 



64 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



Christian sovereign. As an auxiliary to this grant the queen gave her favorite 
a monopoly of the sale of sweet wines, by the profits of which business he was 
soon enabled to fit out what was known as the Lane expedition, that sailed 
under the command of Grenville in 1585, and landed at Roanoke, in Virginia. 






^j^^ , 




\ 



/^'4^:.f %i 









^ 



^t^ 



/^ 




'I 



THE ROANOKE COLONY. 

Grenville's first act upon landing was to rouse the animosity of the Indians 
by burning one of their villages and some cornfields, after which he left Lane, 
the Governor, with only an hundred and ten men and returned to England. 
Scarcity of provisions, a constant quarrel with their Indian neighbors, and a 

. ___ _ ^ , , ,- - general feelino- of discourao-ement 

Y^ led these first Virginia colonists to 

hail the navigator, Drake, who ap- 
peared on the coast a few months 
after, as a deliverer, and rejecting 
his offers of a vessel and provi- 
sions, they insisted upon returning 
with him to the mother country. 
Their departure was almost imme- 
diately followed by the arrival of 
reinforcements and supplies from 
Raleigh, brought by Grenville, who, 
when he found the place deserted, 
left fifteen men to guard it and 
himself proceeded southward to 
pillage the Spaniards of the West 
Indies. 

A second expedition, dis- 
patched by Raleigh, included mxany 
women, that families might be 
formed on the new soil and the colonists be satisfied to remain. This enter- 
prise was led by John White and eleven others, having a company charter. 
Upon arrival in Virginia White found only a skeleton to show where the 
former settlement had been. Indian treachei-y was assigned as the reason for 
its disappearance. Actuated probably by a nervous anxiety, White massacred 
some friendly Indians, under the impression that they were hostiles, and in 
August of 1587 returned to England for supplies, leaving behind him eighty- 
nine men, seventeen women, and eleven children, the youngest being his 
own granddaugrhter, Virginia Dare, the first white child born in America. 

White arrived in England to find the nation preparing for a struggle with 
Spain. His return to the colonies was therefore delayed. Raleigh, finding 



;;*' 



">■.■;<• fri'r.JliA rMlnnS,^ •■ 



INl.il.-\N VILLAGE ENCLOSED WITH I'ALlSADtS. 

i^ltotn the artj^inul lirti-wing- in the British Museum^ made by John 
White ill isSs) 



THE FRENCH ATTEMPT COLONIZATION. 65 

himself impoverished by the former expeditions, which had cost him ^200,000, 
made an assignment, under his patent, to a company which included White and 
one Thomas Smith. A new fleet was procured, though with considerable 
trouble, and again the adventurers sought the Virginia coast, in 1590, only to 
find that the unfortunate settlement of three years before had been utterly wiped 
out of existence. So ended the first English attempt to settle America. 

THE FRENCH ATTEMPT COLONIZATION. 

About the same time de La Roche, a Marquis of Brittany, obtained from 
Henry IV of France a commission to take Canada. His company consisted 
largely of convicts and criminals. Following him came Chauvin de Chatte, but 
he accomplished little of permanent value. 

For some years following the last attempt of Raleigh to colonize Virginia, 
a desultory trade with the Indians of the coast was pursued, the staples being 
sassafras, tobacco, and furs. Richard Hakluyt, one of the assignees of Raleigh, 
was most active in promoting this traffic ; and among others employed was 
Bartholomew Gosnold, who, taking a more northerly course than the one 
usually followed, discovered Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard, 
and the Elizabeth Islands. Following Gosnold, in 1603, came Martin Pring, 
exploring Penobscot Bay, tracing the coast thence as far south as Martha's 
Vineyard. 

A French grant of the same year gave to Sieur de Monts, a Protestant, the 
whole of North America between the 40th and 46th parallels of north latitude. 
This domain was named Acadie. De Monts looked for a monopoly of the fur 
Irade on what is now the New England and Canadian coast. His Lieutenants in 
the expeditions which he soon commenced, were Poutrincourt and Champlain, 
of whom the latter became famous for several discoveries, but in particular for 
the lake which bears his name. 

So it will be noticed that both the French and English were stretching out 
their hands to acquire the same territory. De Monts and Champlain settled 
their colony at St. Croix, but soon shifted, trying various points along the coast, 
and even attempted to inhabit Cape Cod, but were driven away by the savages. 
At last they transferred the settlement to Port Royal (Annapolis), where it 
endured for about a year. De Monts' commission or patent was recalled in 
1606, and but a little while previously Raleigh's grant was forfeited by 
attainder, he having been imprisoned by King James on a charge of 
treason. 

The frequent failures to effect a permanent settlement in America did not 
discourage adventurers, whose desire to possess the new world seemed to grow 
stronger every year. Soon two new companies were incorporated under P.oyal 
charter, to be known as the First and Second Colonies of Virginia. The 



56 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

former was composed of London men, and the latter of Plymouth people 
principally. 

The charter authorized the Companies to recruit and ship colonists, to 
engage in mining operations and the like, and to trade ; their exports to be free 
of duties for seven years and duties to be levied by themselves for their own 
use for a period of twenty years. They might also coin money and protect 
themselves against invasion. Their lands were held of the King. 

HARD TIMES COME AGAIN. 

Hardly had the charter been granted when James began to make regu- 
lations or instructions for the grovernment of the colonies, which sfave a shadow of 
self rule, established the church of England, and decreed, among other things, 
that the fruits of their industries were to be held in common stock by the colo- 
nists for five years. 

These instructions, along with the names of the "Council" appointed by 
James for the government of the settlement, were carried, sealed in a tin box, by 
Captain Christopher Newport, who commanded the three vessels which con- 
stituted the initial venture of the London Company. An ill chosen band 
landed at last at Old Point Comfort, after a stormy voyage. Of the one hundred 
and five men there were forty-three "gentlemen", twelve laborers, half a dozen 
mechanics and a number of soldiers. These quarreled during the voyage, so 
that John Smith, who it afterward appeared was one of the Councillors 
appointed by the Crown, entered Chesapeake Bay a prisoner, charged with con- 
spiracy. As might have been expected, this company did not fare well. They 
were consumed with laziness and jealousy ; there were cabals in the council and 
bickerings outside of it. Repeatedly the men tried to desert ; deaths were fre- 
quent and want stared them in the face. During this time it is hardly too 
much to say that the energy and wisdom of John Smith held the discouraged 
adventurers together. New arrivals of the same sort as the first added to, 
rather than diminished, the difficulties of the situation, so that at length Smith 
wrote that thirty workmen would be worth more than a thousand of such people 
as were being sent out. Not till the third lot of emigrants arrived did any 
women visit the new settlement, and then only two. The Indians became more 
and more troublesome, and the London Company, dissatisfied at receiving no 
returns from their investment, threatened to leave the settlers to shift for 
themselves. 

In 1609 the London Company succeeded in obtaining a new charter, by the 
terms of which it organized as a stock company, with officers chosen for life, 
a governor appointed by the Company's Council in England, and a territory 
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific in a strip four hundred miles in width. 

During the interval between the granting of the charter and the organization 



POCAHONTAS. 



e-j 



of the new government anarchy reigned in Virginia. Smith did everything 

possible to restore order, but was at last wounded by an accidental explosion 

of powder and forced to return to England. At this time Jamestown, which was 

the name of the settlement, contained 

five hundred men, sixty dwellings, a fort, 

store and church. The people possessed t 

a little live stock and about thirty acres 

of cultivated land, but as this was all ^. 



V'^jfe-- 
















,f 


;, 




■ ■\.--'.> 


*-!f^l 




,i' ■'■ ^ . 


'• 


'■^■" '^ -Si 


**■ "' J^ 


\ •" 


C^ k 


^/ 


^C— --^ 




AN INDIAN COUNCIL OF WAR. 



madequate to their support 

there follow ed \\ hat is known 

in the annals of the colony 

as the " Starving time." 

These earlier days in Virginia, while historically valuable only as a warning, 

have afforded an unusual share of romance, much of which centres about the 

unromantic name of Smith. The historian gladly concedes to this remarkable 

man his full share of credit for the survival of one of the most ill assorted 



68 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

parties that ever attempted to settle a new land. But, added to what is known 
of Smith's adventures, struggles and escapes, is a great deal that rests solely 
upon his own authority, and much of this is probably apocryphal. One hesitates, 
for instance, to examine the Pocahontas legend too closely. There is no doubt 
of the existence of that aboriginal princess, of her marriage to the Englishman, 
Rolfe, of her enthusiastic reception by English society, or of the fact that some 
of her proud descendants live to-day in Virginia. But the pretty story of her 
devotion in saving the life of John Smith by protecting him with her own person 
when the club of the executioner was raised by chief Powhatan's order may be 
questioned. The account was not given in Smith's first narratives, and was 
subsequently written by him several years after the death of the lady in 
question. The multitude of hairbreadth escapes and marvelous adventures of 
which Smith made himself the centre, have laid him open to the suspicion of 
drawing a longer bow than Powhatan himself 

JOHN SMITH. 

Clearing away the romance, and allowing all that is necessary to one who is 
so often the hero of his own narrative, it may not be uninteresting to briefly note 
some of the unquestioned services that John Smith performed for the struggling 
colony. We have seen how he arrived under suspicion and arrest, landing on 
the site of the little settlement which was destined to owe so much to him, like 
a felon. The opening of the hitherto secret instructions given under the broad 
seal of England, di.sclosed the fact that he was one of the Councillors named in 
that document. But it was his own clear head and strong courage rather than 
any royal appointment which won him the leadership in the affairs of the settle- 
ment. The quarrels and incompetency of the two governors, Wingfield and 
Ratcliffe, acted as a foil to display his superior quality. Although believing to 
the full in the common creed of his time, that the inducements of wealth were 
the only ones which would lead men to sacrifice home and comfort for the 
wilderness, yet he evinced a genius for hard work and a contempt for hard 
knocks worthy of a nobler purpose. 

It was in his first extended exploration of the Chickahominy that the Poca- 
hontas affair is supposed to have occurred. That he was taken prisoner then, 
and by some means escaped from his captors, is undeniable. And in passing, 
we may observe the curious misapprehension regarding the width of the Amer- 
ican condnent which Smith's journey up the Chickahominy betrayed. He was 
actually looking for the Pacific ocean ! In keeping with this error is that clause 
in the American charters which would make the land grants like long, narrow 
ribbons reachine from ocean to ocean. 

In 1608 Smith ascended Chesapeake Bay and explored the larger rivers 
empt)'ing into it. In an open boat, he traveled over two thousand miles on fresh 




■'"•">wil!iti';: 



BACON DEMANDING HIS COMMISSION OK COVERNOR bEKKtLE-i 



yo THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

water. He parleyed with the Mohawks, and returned to subdue the much more 
unmanageable colonists at Jamestown. When the half-starved and wholly 
discouraged adventurers became mutinous, his methods of dealing with them 
were dictatorial and effectual. 

As already stated, Smith, upon his departure from Virginia, left nearly five 
hundred people there. In six months there remained only sixty. Many had 
died, some thirty or more seized a small vessel and sailed South on a piratical 
expedition, and a number wandered into the Indian country and never came 
back. Sick and disheartened, the remainder resolved to abandon Virginia and 
seek Newfoundland. Indeed, they had actually made all preparations and were 
starting upon their voyage, when they were met by the new governor from 
England, Lord De La War, with ships, recruits and provisions. 

The charter under which De La War assumed the government of Virginia 
was sufficiently liberal. It was that granted to Raleigh. But in the years that 
followed, the colony began to be prosperous and to excite the jealousy of the 
king — the same base, faithless king that had beheaded Raleigh. James began 
to conspire against the Virginia charter. It was too liberal : he dreaded the 
power it conferred. By 1620 colonists were pouring into Jamestown at the rate 
of a thousand a year, and thence being distributed through the country. 

To try to condense the early colonial history of Virginia to the limits of our 
space would result in a bare recital of names, or a repetition of the narrative of 
ignorance, vice, and want, occasionally relieved by some deed of devotion or 
daring. At first, in spite of the liberal provisions of the charter, the conditions 
were, to a large extent, those of vassalage. In 1623 James ordered the Com- 
pany's directors to surrender their charter, a demand which they naturally 
refused. He then brought suit against the Company, seized their papers so 
that they should have no defence, and finally, through foul means obtained a 
decision dissolving the Company. After that the government of the colony 
consisted in a governor and two councils, onr of which sat in Virginia and the 
other in London. The governor and councils were by royal appointment. 



BACON S REBELLION. ■ 

Here we must be allowed to digress a little, to give the part played by one 
Nathaniel Bacon in the affairs of Virginia. It was the year 1676, when Bacon 
became the leader of a popular movement instituted by the people of Kent 
County, whose purpose was twofold — first, to protect themselves against the 
Indians, which the Government failed to do ; and, secondly, to resist the unjust 
taxes and the oppressive laws enacted by the existing legislative assembly, and 
also to recover their liberties lost under the arbitrary proceedings of Sir William 
Berkeley, then Governor. Bacon, a popular, quiet man, who had come over 
from England a year before, was selected as their leader by the people, who. 



GOVERNOR BERKELEY REMOVED. 



71 



enrolling themselves 300 strong, were led by Bacon against the Indians. Bacon's 
success increased the jealousy of Sir William, who, because of Bacon s irregular 
leadership, — he having no proper commission, — proclaimed Bacon a rebel. 
Finally, the people rose en masse, and demanded the dissolution of the old 
assembly, whose acts had caused so much trouble. Berkeley was forced to yield, 
and a new assembly was elected, who, 
condoninsj Bacon's irregfular leader- 
ship, promised him a regular com- 
mission as General. This commission 

Berkeley refused to issue, whereupon %-,, y/^^^^^^^^^'j,i "? 

Bacon, assembling his forces, at the 
head of 500 men, appeared before 



-W. 










BURNING OF JAMESTOWN. 



Berkeley and demanded his commission, 
which Berkeley, who was a real coward, 
made haste to grant. But, as if repenting 
of his concession, Berkeley determined to 
oppose Bacon by force. In this he was 
unsuccessful, and in July of that year, 
Bacon entered Jamestown, the Capital, and 
burned the town. A little later, in October, Bacon died, and with him the 
"rebellion," or "popular uprising" as it had been variously called, subsided. 
Shortly afterward Berkeley was removed, for oppression and cruelty — a cruel, 
bloodthirsty man he was — and, sailing for England, died soon after his arrival, 
and the world's population of scoundrels was lessened by just one. 

While the curious mixture of cavalier and criminal was working out the 



72 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

early destinies of Virginia, a deeply religious element in Nottinghamshire and 
Yorkshire, England, were being educated by adversity for an adventure of a 
very different sort. At Scrooby, in 1606, a congregation of Separatists or 
Bronnists, who were ultra Puritans, used to meet secretly for worship at the 
house of their elder, William Brewster. King James, like most renegades, was a 
good persecutor, and he finally drove the Scrooby church to flee. Led by their 
pastor, that wisest and gentlest of the Puritans, John Robinson, the little com- 
pany escaped to Holland. The history of their ten years of sorrow and hard- 
ship in Amsterdam and Leyden is too well known to require repetition here. 
It is impossible to overestimate the influence of such a man as Robinson, or to 
question the permanency of the impression which his character and teaching 
made upon his flock. 

Procuring a patent from the London company, the Scrooby-Leyden Sepa- 
ratists prepared for their adventure. Only about half the Holland company 
could get ready, and it fell to the pastor's lot to stay with those who were left 
behind. Embarking on the Speedwell, at Delft Haven, the colonists bade 
good-by to their friends and directed their course to England, where they 
were joined by the Mayflower. 

ARRIVAL OF THE MAYFLOWER. 

The Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy, so at length most of her 
passengers were transferred to the Mayflower, which proceeded on the voyage. 
To those who know how small a vessel of iSo tons is, the fact that one hundred 
souls, besides the crew, were upon a stormy ocean in her for more than sixty 
days, will be as eloquent as any description of their discomforts could be. The 
objective point was far to the southward of the land that they finally fell upon, 
which was not within the limits of their patent from the Virginia Company. But 
they dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor, sick and weary with the voyage, and 
landed, giving thanks for their deliverance. With wisdom and frugality the 
plans for the home in the wilderness were made. 

Being too f^ir North to be bound or protected by the provisions of the 
Virginia charter, the Pilgrims, as they called themselves, made a compact which 
was mutually protective. The terms of the contract foreshadowed republican 
institutions. Thus in character, purpose and outward surroundings the Puritan 
of Plymouth and the Cavalier of Jamestown differed essentially. The after 
development of the two settlements followed logically along these lines, empha- 
sizing these differences. 

Of the hundred souls left in Plymouth only fifty per cent, remained alive 
when the supplies from England came, a year later. Scurvy, famine and 
exposure to the severe climate had killed most of the weakest of them. Not a 
household but had suffered loss. Yet not one offered to go back. Men and 



THE PILGRIMS OF THE "MAYFLOWER!' 



73 



women alike stood to their posts with a heroism that has never been excelled in 
the world's history. We read how they planted their corn in the graveyard 
when planting time came, so that the Indians might not discover the greatness 
of their loss. Cotton Mather, in writing of this dark time says, with that 
provoking, cold-blooded philosophy that can bear other people's troubles with 
equanimity: "If disease had not more easily fetched so many away to heaven," 
all must have died for lack 
of provisions. The Indians % 
were at first very hostile, 
owing to depreciations com- 
mitted by a previous navi- 
gator, but they were too few 
in number to be very trouble- 
some. Squanto, who became 
the interpreter, and Samoset, 
a sagamore from the east- 
ern coast, were their first 
friends among the red men. 
Squanto was their tutor 
in husbandry and fishing. 
Then, too, came Hobba- 
mock, whom Longfellow has 
immortalized as the "friend 
of the white man." The 
names of those who formed 
this little colony have be- 
come household words all 
over the land. Miles Stan- 
dish, John Alden, Priscilla, 
Elder Brewster, Bradford, — 
where are these names not 
known ? 

Frugal as the Pilgrims 
were, and industrious, they 
found that their inexperience in planting maize, together with other drawbacks, 
kept them on the edge of starvation for several years. Clams became at one 
time the staple diet, and were about all that the settlers had to regale their 
friends with, when a new ship-load of those that had been left behind in Leyden, 
arrived. 

A description of Plymouth, given in 1626, shows the situation of the town : 
A broad street, "about a cannon shot of eight hundred yards long," bordered 




ARMOR WORN UY THE PILGRIMS IN 102O. 



74 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



by the houses of hewn planks, followed by a brook down the hillside. A second 
road crossed the first, and at the intersection stood the Governor's house. Upon 




the mound known as "burial hill" was a 
building which served the double purpose of 
a fort and a church. A stockade surrounded 
the whole. At first the agricultural and othet 
labors of the people had been communistic, in 
accordance with the conditions of the London 
Company's charter. But in 1624 this plan wa;- 
done away with and the lands thereafter held separately. Still the people, 
unlike those of Virginia, continued to dwell in towns, and their habits in this 
respect descended to their children. 



MILES STANDISH HOLDS A COUNCIL WITH 
THE INDIANS. 



BOUNDARY DISPUTES AND INDIAN WARS. 



75 



The second New England colony was that of Massachusetts Bay, which 
was sent out by a company provided with a charter very much like that of Vir- 
ginia. The provisions of this patent allowed for the appointment of officers by 
the company, but it was not stated where the headquarters of the company were 
to be. This important oversight allowed the transplanting of the company, with 
officers, elective power, and other democratic rights, to New England. The 
company, which pretended to be a commercial organization, was really composed 
of I'uritans, who, though not Separatists, were strict to the point of fanaticism. 
The leader of the first emigrants was John Endicott. His followers numbered 
less than a hundred souls, 
with which little force he 
planted Salem. The Salem 
colonists, though they had 
known less persecution and 
hardship than those of Ply- 
mouth, or perhaps for that 
reason, yet were more intol- 
erant and Quixotic in their 
rules for self government, 
in social observances, and 
especially in their dealings 
with people of other reli- 
gious sects. The transfer- 
ence of the cfovernment of 
the company, together with 
the addition of over eight 
hundred new colonists, was 
made in 1630. 

As the Massachusetts 
colonies grew they excited 
the jealousy or animosity of 
two very different classes of 
people. These were their 

Dutch neighbors and the Indians. The most serious of the early difficulties 
with the aborigines was, in fact, the effect of Dutch interference. These 
people had purchased the Connecticut river lands from the Pequots. The 
Pequots only held the territory by usurpation and the original owners obtained 
the Puritan protection, giving them a rival title. The enraged Pequots com- 
menced hostilities which were promptly resented by the Puritan Governor, 
Endicott, who led his men into the Indian country, punishing the assailants 
severely. This act, however necessary it may have been, laid the colony open 




A PIONEtR FLEEING FROM ENRAGED PEQUOTS. 



7^ 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



to all the cruelty of a long-continued war, which lasted until the final rem- 
nant of the Pequot tribe had been extinguished. 




A PEQUOT MASSACRE, 



The war with Philip, Massasoit's 
son, occurred in 1675, when the col- 
ony was stronger and better able to 
bear the tax upon its vigor, but during the year in which it lasted the settle- 



H END RICK HUDSON. 77 

merits were frightfully crippled. Six hundred houses had been burned, the 
fighting force of the Englisli liad been decimated, and the fruits of years of 
labor wasted. The whole difficulty arose from the Puritans' " lust for inflicting 
justice," and might have been avoided. 

One of the most significant, as well as beneficial, of early New England 
institutions was the "town meetincr," which ranked ne.xt to "the meetinsr house 
worship " in importance to the colonist ; for while in one he indulged liberty of 
conscience, the other allowed him liberty of speech. Having both his speech 
and his conscience under control, the Puritan took a sober delight in their 
indulgence. The town meeting was in the New Englander's blood, and it needed 
only the peculiar conditions of his new life to bring it out. His ancestors had had 
their Folkmotes where all questions of public policy and government were freely 
discussed. So it came natural to him to rather in unsmilinor earnestness with his 
neighbors, and attend to their plans or suggest others for their mutual guidance 
and safety. This ventilation of grievances and expression of views did more, in 
all probability, to prepare for the part which New England should take in future 
political movements than any other one agency. 

HENDRICK HUDSON. 

The discovery of the Hudson River, and that of Lake Champlain occurred 
at nearly the same time, each discoverer immortalizing himself by the exploit. 
That of Hudson has, however, been of vastly more importance to America and 
the w^orld than that of his French contemporary. 

Hudson was known as a great Arctic explorer prior to his discovery of 
the site of America's metropolis. He had previously sailed under English 
patronage, but now he and his little " Half-Moon " were in the service of the 
Dutch East India Company, and in search of a northwest passage, which he 
essayed to find by way of Albany, but failed. At the same time Smith was 
searching the waters of the Chesapeake. In 1614, the charter granting all of 
America between Virginia and Canada was received by the " Company of the 
New Netherlands ' from the lately formed States General of Holland. The 
command of so magnificent a river system as that of the Hudson and its 
tributaries established almost at once the status and success of the Dutch 
colony 

The States General held complete control of their American dependency 
They appointed governors and councillors and provided them with laws. 
Ordinarily, the people seemed to care as little to mix with politics as does the 
modern average New Yorker, a good deal of bad government being considered 
better than a little trouble. 

Once in a while a governor got in some difficulty over the Indian question, 
and called a council of citizens to help him, but ordinarily he was despotic 



jS THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

The colonists were content to wax fat without kicking. They were honest, 
shrewd, good-natured, tolerant bodies, as different from the New Englander 
as from the Virginian, or as either of these neighbors was from the other. 
Primarily traders, they found themselves in one of the best trading grounds in 
the world, with nothing serious to prevent them from growing rich and 
multiplying. This they proceeded to do with less noise and more success than 
either of the other contemporary settlements. In the fifty years of Dutch rule, 
the population of New Amsterdam reached eight thousand souls. The 
character of the city was so cosmopolitan that it has been estimated that no 
less than twelve languages were spoken there. Free trade obtained, in 
contrast to the policy of New England and Virginia. The boundary difficulties 
with the Puritan colonies were a constant irritation, but were allowed to 
slumber when it was necessary to make common cause against the Indians. 

'the dutch lose new AMSTERD.A.M. 

In the time of Petrus Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch governors, the 
rivalry which existed between the English and Dutch nations regarding the 
trade of the new world led the treacherous Charles II of England to send an 
armament in a time of profound peace to take the colony of a friendly nation. 

Colonel Richard Nichols commanded the expedition. His orders caused 
him to stop at the Massachusetts Bay for reinforcements. The colonists there 
were reluctant to aid him, but those of Connecticut joined eagerly with the 
expedition, and Governor Winthrop took part in it. The colony passed, 
without a blow, with hardly a murmur on the part of the people, though 
considerably to the rage of Governor Stuyvesant, into the hands of the English, 
to be known thenceforth as New York. Notwithstanding the success of the 
Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, it was unquestionably a most important 
advantage in the after history of America that it should have fallen into the 
hands of the Entjlish. 

As a conservative element, the peaceful, prosperous Friend was of immense 
value in colonial development. The grant which William Penn obtained in 1681 
gave him a tract of forty thousand square miles between the estates of York 
and Baltimore. Penn's charter was in imitation of that granted to Maryland, 
with important differences. With the approval of Lord Baltimore, laws passed 
by the Maryland Assembly were valid, but the king reserved the right to approve 
the laws of Pennsylvania. The same principle was applied to the right of 
taxation. There was about fifty years between the two charters. 

The settlement of New Jersey by Quakers was that which first drew Penn's 
attention to America. In drawing up the plans for his projected State he did so 
in accordance with Quaker ideas, which in point of humanity were far in advance 
of the times. The declaration that governments exist for the sake of the 



8o 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



governed, that the purpose of punishment is reformation, that justice to Indians 
as well as to white men should be considered, were startling in their novelty. 

The success of this enterprise was instant and remarkable. In three years 
the colony numbered eight thousand people. The applications for land poured 
in and the affairs of the colonists were wisely administered, and before the 
death of her great founder, Pennsylvania was firmly established. Education 
was a matter of care from the very start in Philadelphia, although throughout 
the rest of the state it was neglected for many years. Indian troubles were 
scarcely known. The great blot on the scutcheon of the Quaker colony was 
the use of white slaves, for whom Philadelphia became the chief market in the 
new world. Not less remarkable than the unity of time which characterized the 
planting of several American settlements was the unity of race into which 
they all finally merged, with few and slight exceptions, so that in after years 
all of the various lines of development which have been indicated in this 
chapter should combine to form a more complete national life. Penn made a 
treaty with the Indians, and kept it ; and herein lies the secret of his success. 
If only all treaties had been kept, what bloodshed might not have been 
avoided ! 




PAUL REVERE'S RIDE 






KING PHILIP'S WAR-DEATH OF THE KING 



Curious Manners and Customs in Colonial 

Times. 




A CHAISE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
{Froffi " L'Art lilt lilenuissier-Ctiyrossier " 1771.) 



Many were the varieties of 
New England life before the Ameri- 
can Revolution. Each township 
maintained its own peculiar laws; 
clung to its own peculiar customs ; 
cherished its own peculiar traditions. 
Never, perhaps, except in Greece, 
were local self-government and local 
patriotism pushed to such an ex- 
treme. Not only did common- 
wealth hold itself separate from 
commonwealth, but township from 
township, and often village from village. Long stretches of uninhabited land 
effectively divided these self-reliant communities from one another. "The road 
to Boston," says one of the most graphic of New England's local historians,* 
when speaking of the route from Buzzard's Bay, in 1743, "was narrow and 
tortuous — a lane throueh a forest — havino- rocks and quagmires and lonof reaches 
of sand, which made it almost impassable to wheels, if any there were to be 
ventured upon it. Branches of large trees were stretched over it, so that it was 
unvisited by sunlight, except at those places where it crossed the clearings on 
which a solitary husbandman had established his homestead, or where it followed 
the sandy shores of some of those picturesque ponds which feed the rivers 
emptying into Buzzard's Bay. Occasionally a deer bounded across the path, 
and foxes were seen running into the thickets." Such roads, picturesque as 
tliey were, naturally discouraged travel. Occasionally a Congregational council 
called together the ministers of several towns at an installation or an ordi- 
nation. Once a year the meeting of the General Court tempted the rural 
authorities up to the capital; during a week's time a few travelers may have 

* Mr. W. R. Bliss, in his "Colonial Times on Buzzard's Bay," an excellent depiction of early 
New England life, from which other quotations will appear later in this chapter. 

81 



82 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 




COLONIAL PLOW WITH WOODEN MOLD-BOARD. I706. 
{Siaie Agricultural Museum, Albauy, N. 1'.) 



ridden by on horseback and baited at the village inn ; now and then a visitor 
came to town, making no litde stir, or perhaps a new immigrant settled on the 
confines of the parish. But there were then no Methodist preachers, with short 
and frequent pastorates, and no commercial travelers, with boxes of the latest 
goods, who could serve as conductors of thought and gossip from village to 

village and make them homogfeneous, 
America was not then a land of travelers 
What litde travel there might have been, 
was often still further discouraged by 
local ordinances, and in many a town, 
a citizen had to have a special permit 
from the Selectmen before he could enter- 
tain a guest for anything over a fort- 
night. Thus one father was fined ten 
shillings for showing hospitality to his 
daughter beyond the legal period. In 
many a spot in early New England the 
protectionist principle was so thoroughly 
localized that the importation of labor, as well as of merchandise, was 
rigorously restricted. Towns so insulated naturally took on distinctive traits. 
Even religious customs, literal scripturalists as these people were, differed in 
different places. The Puritan Sabbath began on Saturday night in one 
commonwealth, on Sunday morning in another. In brief no picture of any 
one town can serve as a picture of any other. 

To describe a typical Puritan home, therefore, is 
not easy. Yet it is not impossible. For the New 
England Puritans were a peculiar and easily distin- 
guished people. The fundamental differences in 
character which set them off from the rest of the 
world, are far more prominent to the eye than are the 
local differences which divided town from town. A 
Connecticut settler, or even a Rhode Island Baptist, 
might be taken for a Massachusetts Puritan, but a 
Knickerbocker could be mistaken for neither. 

To begin with, the New Englanders were the 
most truly benevolent and unselfish people of their 

time. They had hardly set foot on New England's shore before their history 
was marked by a magnanimous act of genuine forgiveness of injuries. It 
was in the middle of the landing at Plymouth Rock, when the colony was 
prostrated by illness and was exposed to the worst inclemencies of a 
new and inclement climate. " Desdtute of every provision which the weak- 



:^ 




ANCIENT HAND-MADE SPADE. 
{State Agricultural Uluseum, At&afi*, 

N. y.) 



THE CHARACTER OF THE NEW ENGLANDER. 



83 




IMMIGRANT S FLAX 
WHEEL. 



ness and daintiness of the invalid require," so runs the description of a 
well-known historian, " the sick lay crowded in the unwholesome vessel or in 
half-built cabins, heaped around with snow-drifts. The rude sailors refused 
them even a share of those coarse sea-stores which would 
have given a little variety to their diet, till disease spread 
among the crew and the kind ministrations of those 
whom they had neglected and affronted brought them 
to a better temper." There could be no better example 
of Christian forbearance than this. At the start the 
Indians also came within the scope of the Puritan's 
charity. He nursed them assiduously in times of small- 
pox, rescued many a child from a plague-stricken wigwam, 
helped them through times of famine, Christianized and 
partially civilized some of them, and in business dealings 
treated them not only justly but with a sincere though 
tacdess kindness. The Puritan's home life was unselfish ; 
he was profoundly regardful of his children, though he 
evinced that regard not by indulging them, but by pains- 
taking discipline and a rigorous thrift, the better to provide for their future. 
It was a French Jesuit of the last century who testified that the New Englander, 
unlike the Canadian, labored for his heirs. These early setders made staunch 

neighbors. They were ready at almost any 
time to leave their work to drive a pin 
or nail in a young home-maker's new 
dwelling-house as a token of their good 
will, while they found their greatest pleas- 
ures in such means of mutual helpfulness 
as corn-huskings, quildng-bees, and barn- 
raisings. They were, no doubt, e.xacting 
and unsympathetic masters, but in the 
commands which they enjoined they kept 
in view the moral welfare of their slaves 
and servants as of far greater importance 
than their own material prosperity. Never 
were slaves better treated than in New 
England. 

The Puritans were strenuously intent 

on making the world, not only better, 

but, as they thought, happier. It was to guard the more solid pleasures of a 

pure home-life and of an honest pride in one's country, that they bulwarked 

themselves against the encroachments of sordid self-indulgences. But they went 



K. 




A COLONIAL FLA.X-WHEEL. 



84 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 




A CUiMFURTIEK, UR CHAFING-DISH. 

{Nevj York State Cabinet of Natural history, 

Albany.) 



about their task in crude fashion. They recognized, for instance, quite wisely, 
that there is no more insidious enemy of happiness than vanity, which makes a 
man utterly miserable whenever he is ignored and only uneasily pleased even 

when he is admired the most, but they tried to 
eradicate vanity from the human heart not by 
planting something better in its place, but by 
such petty sumptuary laws as prohibiting the 
wearing of lace. They simply attempted to cut 
off whatever might minister to vanity's indul- 
gence. Their chief reliance for improving the 
condition of the world was in a countless number 
of minute restrictions and self-limitations. The 
more law there is, however, the more there needs 
to be, for prohibit nine-pins and soon there will be a new game of ten-pins 
to prohibit also. So it was with the Puritans. Restriction was placed here 
and restriction was placed there, until restriction became constriction and grew 
intolerable. The children were never allowed to lose sight of parental regula- 
tions, the parents of township ordinances, 
the town of state laws. But it was in the 
number and pettiness of these laws, not 
any cruelty in them, which made them 
intolerable, for the humanity of New 
England's legislators is evinced in the fact 
that there were only ten crimes punish- 
able with death in New England when 
there were one hundred and sixty in Old 
England. The New Englanders were 
swaddled, not chained. The best that 
was in them did not have full play, but it 
had more play than it could have had in 
any other country, except Great Britain 
and Holland. 

From the start New England was a 
country of homes. The typical New 
England dwellino- was the work of several 
generations. It had begun perhaps as a 
solidly built but plain rectangular house 
of one story and two rooms. In one of them the good wife cooked the meals 
on the hearth — and simple cooking was never better done — laid the table, as 
meal-time approached, with the neat wooden bowls, plates, platters, and spoons 
and prmiitive knives of the time, or, the meal over, received a neighbor dropping 




LL I II 11 

(J'rotn an Old I-rini.) 



THE HOUSE AND THE HOME 



S5 



in on a friendly errand, or perhaps the minister gravely making the rounds of 
his parish. This was the living room, the centre of the family life. The 
other room contained two great bedsteads with their puffy feather-beds, while 
the trundle-bed in the corner betrayed the presence of little children in the 
household. If the family was large, a rude ladder led the way to a sleeping- 
place in the garret, the very spot for a boy with a romantic turn. 

Slowly but faithfully the farmer added to the size and to the comforts of his 
home. What a place the hearth soon became! "In the wide fireplace and 
over the massive back-log, crane, jack, spit and pot-hook did substantial work, 




PRIMITIVE iMODE OF GRLNDING CuRN. 



while the embers kept bake-kettle and frying-pan in hospitable exercise." Here 
was the place for the iron, copper or brass andirons, often wrought into curious 
devices and religiously kept bright and polished. In front of the fire was the 
broad wooden seat for four or five occupants, with its generously high back to 
keep off the cold. This was the famous New England setde, making an inviting 
and cozy retreat for the parents in their brief rests from labor, or perhaps for 
lovers when the rest of the house was still. On each side of the hearth, in lieu 
of better seats were wooden blocks on which the children sat as they drew close to 
the fire on winter evenings to work or read by its blaze. Perhaps, in some corner 
of the room could be seen the brass warming-pan, which every winter's evening 



86 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



gathered about 
winter's evenine 



was filled with embers and carried to the sleeping chambers to give a temporary 
warmth to the great feather-beds. There was a place near at hand for the 
snow-shoes, while matchlocks, swords, pikes, halbert, and some pieces of 
axmor fixed against the wall showed that the farmer obeyed the town 
ordinances and kept himself prepared against Indian raids. 

For like all frontiersmen, these farmers never felt secure. The Indians, 
instigated by the French, and exasperated by the cheating and bullying EngHsh 
adventurers, who had crept into New England against the colonists' will, were' 
not only the crudest of foes, they were the most treacherous of friends. They 
had pillaged and destroyed more than one secluded and unsuspecting settle- 
ment, murdering, torturing, or carrying into captivity, as they pleased, the 

peaceful inhabitants. The big, 
vague rumors of such midnight 
raids exercised their uncanny spell 
over many a household as it 
the hearth of a 
There was the 
Deerfield massacre, for instance. 
Just before the dawn of a cold 
winter's night the Indians fell 
upon the fated village. They 
spent twenty-four hours in wanton 
destruction, slaughtered sixty help- 
less prisoners, and carried a hun- 
dred back with them for an eight 
weeks' cruel march to the north, 
during which nineteen victims were 
murdered on the way and two 
were starved to death. 
Such was the story associated with the arms upon the wall ; but a happier 
story was told by the ears of corn, the crooknecks, the dried fruit, and the fiitches 
of bacon hanging from the beams and ceiling of the room. They were a 
perpetual reminder of Thanksgiving Day. If the Puritan discountenanced 
Christmas observances as smacking of "papishness" — such was the narrow- 
mindedness of the times — he showed by this feast-day, his appreciation of the 
good things of earth. It was characteristic of the early New Englanders to 
make much of little things. The housewife was rightfully proud of her simple 
but nice cooking, and her husband of his plain but substantial produce. There 
is something appetizing in the very thought of their homely but choice dishes, 
their hasty-pudding, their Yankee breads, their pumpkin and mince pies. These 
simple people cultivated to an unsurpassed extent the wholesome pleasure 




OLD FRENCH HOUSE. 



HOUSEHOLD INDUSTRIES. 



87 



which comes from a full appreciation of nature's wealth of gifts. They were 
lovers and cultivators of the wholesome fruits. It was a custom often observed 
in New England to give a favorite tree or bush a special and appropriate name, 
as a token of aftection and so to make it seem the more companionable. The 
Puritan, indeed, had strong local affections and attachments. He found his 
pleasures in wliat came to his hand and made pleasures often out of the work he 
had to do. He provided little that was even amusement for his children, but 
this misfortune was alleviated by the abundant outlet for youthful energies 
which they found in the activities of the household. There was little time which 
could be spent in mere amusement. The home was a hive of busy workers. 
The planting, cultivating and harvesting of his crops consumed perhaps the 
smaller portion of the farmer's time. Cattle raising for the West Indies and 
sheep growing took much of his 




attention. He was something 
of a lumberman, as well, and 
still more of a mechanic. Per- 
haps he bought iron rods and, 
when debarred from outdoor 
labor, hammered them into nails 
at the kitchen fireside. It was 
much more important, however, 
that he should have some skill 
at carpentry. Often too, he 
carved out of wood his table 
dishes. In the diverse indus- 
tries of his house was the germ 
of many a nucleus factory. From 
his wife's busy loom came home- 
spun cloth for the family. In the kitchen were distilled her favorite remedies. 
The children of the family were not only kept busy ; they were kept thinking ; 
their inventive faculties were constantly on the alert. Hardly a week passed 
but a new device was needed. Early in the history of New England, to be 
sure, there were tanners who would keep half the skins they received and 
return the other half in leather, brickmakers, masons, carpenters, millers 
with very busy wind-mills, curriers, sawyers, smiths, fullers, malsters, shoe- 
makers, wheelwrights, weavers and other artisans to do the work of specialists 
in the community, yet the farmer did not a little for himself in every one of 
these trades. His home was an industrial community in and of itself 

The fisherman who dwelt upon the sea-coast needed quite as active and 
ver3atile a family as did his inland brother. He left them to build the boats, 
hoop the casks, forge the irons, and manage the many other industries pre- 



■a.Qf.T».aiwamji-j»in 1 mim^MWM!^^— j^^— ■ 

blLK-WI.NDl.NG. 

{Fac-siiiiile 0/ a Picture in Edward It 'ii/iatns-'s " Vir-^inta Truly 
Valued.'* ibjQ.) 



88 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

requisite to the complete outfit of a vessel for a long and hazardous voyage. 
At any time they might be obliged to support themselves entirely or be thrown 
upon the town, for all fishing out at sea is a dangerous vocation, and whaling had 
its peculiar perils. Occasionally a boat and crew were sunk by the tremendous 
blows with which some great whale lashed the sea in his death agony. Now and 
then one of these tormented giants would turn madly upon his pursuers. Then, 
so says one careful historian, "he attacked boats, deliberately, crushing them 
like egg-shells, killing and destroying whatever his massive jaws seized in their 
horrid nip. His rage was as tremendous as his bulk ; when will brought a purpose 
to his movement, the art of man was no match for the erratic creature." One 
such fighting monster attacked the good ship "Essex," striking with his head 
just forward of her fore-chains. The ship, says the mate, "brought up as sud- 
denly and violently as if she had struck a rock, and trembled for a few seconds 
like a leaf" She had already begun to settle when the whale came again, 
crashing with his head through her bows. There was bare time to provision and 
man the small boats before the vessel sank. The crew suffered from lone 
exposure and severe privations, and only a part of them were ever saved. 

Such tales as this reached inland and attracted boyish lovers of adventure 
to the sea. There were other and different tales of the sea, as well, to allure 
them — tales of great wealth amassed in the India trade, of prizes captured from 
the French by audacious privateersmen, or of pirates, then scourging the sea, or, 
more boldly still, entering Boston harbor and squandering their ill-gotten gains 
at the Boston taverns. The ocean was then the place for the brave and the 
ambitious. It is a significant fact that probably the first book of original fiction 
ever published in New England was "The Algerine Captive," a story of a 
sailor's slavery among the Moors. Yet this story was long in coming. New 
England produced no fiction of its own and reprinted little of old England's 
until ten years after the close of the American Revolution. In the early farm- 
houses, the library consisted of two or three shelves of Puritan theology. As 
time went on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, a few ecclesiastical and local histories, 
one or more records of witchcraft trials, and some doggerel verse from the New 
England poets were added to the dry and scant supply of reading. Yet the 
enterprising and imaginative reader, though a child, could ferret out not a few 
exciting episodes from such uninviting volumes as Josephus's "History of the 
Jews," or Rev. Mr. Williams's record of Indian Captivity, while by 1720 a few 
of the more fortunate little ones had a printed copy of Mother Goose jingles 
for their amusement.. But, although this was all the reading the farmer had-- 
for the newspapers were wretched and were seldom seen fifty miles from Bos- 
ton — it must not be supposed that he underestimated the value of books. He 
read far more than the modern farmer does — indeed all he could afford to get 
and had the time for ; the clergy of the time often had substantial libraries of 




L 



^J^:X^\^^^s^ 



1 AM READY FOR ANY SERVICE THAT I CAN GIVE MY COUNTRY' 



In 1798 our Cio\ernment was about to declare war against FraiiLC. C"ngress appointed Washington commander. in-chid 

of the American Army. 1 he Stcrelary of War carried the commission in person to Ml. \"ernon. 1 he old 

hero, sitting on his horse in the har%-est field, accepted in the above patriotic words. 








■»>iy y^. 






^,-\ 




BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA 

Captain May leaped his steed ov«r the parapets, followed by th,i»e .>f his men whose horses could do a like feat, and was among the 

gunners the next moment, sabering right and left. Ceneral 1-a Vega and a hundred of his men were 

made prisoners and borne bai.k to the American lines. 



THE YOUNG LADY. gg 

one or two or even three hundred volumes ; while in the Revolutionary period, 
any young- lady in a well-to-do family could easily obtain the best writings of 
Dryden, Pope, Addison, Swift, Thomson, and the other classic writers of the 
eighteenth century. 




NIAGARA AND THE BEAVER DAMS. 
{From jMoli's " Neiv and Exact Mafi." 77/5.) 



Indeed, the "young lady," as the feature of human society, was not alto- 
gether neglected, even in earlier times. To be sure, she could not dance with- 
out shocking most, if not all, of the community ; she could not act in church 
charades — for all dramatic exhibitions were forbidden by law ; but in the inter- 



90 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



vals between her sewing and her housekeeping cares, she played battledore 
and shuttlecock with her sister or friends, or practised the meeting-house 
tunes on the old-fashioned and quaint spinet or virginal. If she were so 
fortunate as to be born in the eighteenth century instead of the seventeenth, 
she was regularly escorted by her swain to the singing-school, which not 
only furnished training in psalmody, but was the occasion of much social 
companionship among the young people of the village, and of not a httle 
match-making-. 

These gatherings often started incidentally other intellectual interests 
besides those of music, and books were discussed and recommended. Here was 




FROZEN NIAGARA. 



the birth-place of the reading circle and the modern lecture system. Awkward 
and restrained as their society manners were, the Puritans were a social people ; 
jealously as they preserved their home-life, they joined quite as readily as do 
modern farmers in general village pleasures. The barn raisings for men, the 
quilting-bees for women and the merry corn-huskings and house-warmings for 
both, were not the only social gatherings of young and old. Every ordination 
or installation of a new minister — it came seldom, to be sure, — was the occasion 
of feasting and a sociable assembling by the congregation. Training day was 
another time when the township was agog with excitement. Every male citi- 
zen of the village, from the boy of si.xteen to the man of si.xty, was compelled on 
these occasions to shoulder his musket and march in the militia. An awkward 



SCHOOL AND MEETING HOUSE. 91 

squad of amateur soldiers they were, as they paraded the village, complacent 
and valiant in fair weather, but bedraggled, crestfallen and wofuUy diminished 
in numbers in wet. Yet the women and children were proud of them and fol- 
lowed along the route. In honor of the occasion special booths were erected 
for the sale of gingerbread and harmless drinks to the on-lookers. The tavern 
too was kept busy, for every settlement of any pretensions had a tavern, where 
the passing traveler might get refreshment for himself and his horse. Here the 
selectmen planned the village policy for the consideration of the town-meeting. 
Here too were held public debates between rival theological disputants, sitting 
over their mild spirituous beverages. Here too was disseminated the latest 
news from Boston and the old world. 

The two other public buildings of the place were the school-house and the 
meeting-house. As early as 1647, every Massachusetts village of fifty house- 
holders was required by state law to maintain a school, in which the catechism 
and the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic should be taught, while 
every town which boasted a hundred householders was obliged to establish a 
grammar school. But New England was not dependent upcn these schools 
alone for her education. Massachusetts and Connecticut each had its college, in 
which learned and often eminent men trained the more ambitious youth of the 
land. One hundred thousand graduates were among the early emigrants from 
England and mingled with the people, while in the first days of the church, the 
pulpits even in the smaller towns, were almost without exception filled with men 
accomplished in the best learning of the time. 

The church was the centre of the community's social and political life. 
Attendance on public worship was enforced, during many decades and in many 
places, by village ordinance. Church and state were curiously confused. Only 
cnurch members were allowed to vote at town-meetings, and the selectmen of 
the village assigned the seats to the congregation, according to the peculiar 
regulations of the town-meeting. Customs differed in different places. In 
some villages, just before service began, the men would file in on one 
side of the church and the women on the other, while the boys and 
girls, separated from each other as scrupulously, were uncomfortably fixed 
in the gallery, or placed on the gallery stairs, or on the steps leading 
up to the pulpit. It was in one of these churches that the following ordinance 
was enforced : — 

"Ordered that all ye boys of ye town are and shall be appointed to sitt upon ye three pair 
of stairs in ye meeting-house on the Lord's day, and Wm. Lord is appointed to look to the boys 
yt sit upon ye pulpit stairs, and ye other stairs Reuben Guppy is to look to." 

In other meeting-houses, each household had a curious box pew of its own, 
fashioned according to the peculiar tastes of its occupants. The assignment of 



92 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



pew room in these places of worship was determined by the most careful class 
distinctions, for democratic as the Puritans were in their political institutions and 
commercial methods, each family jealously guarded whatever aristocratic pre- 
tensions it might have inherited. To the plain seats in the gallery were relegated 
the humbler members of the parish ; a few young couples had pews of their 
own set off for them there, while a special gallery was occasionally provided for 
the negro slaves. There was no method of heating the edifice ; to warm their 
feet the women had recourse to foot-stoves, carried to the meeting-house by the 
children or apprentices ; the men to the more primitive method of pinching 
th-Mr shins together. When the hour-glass in the pulpit had marked the passage 
of m hour and a half, the sermon usually came to a close, and the people in the 




CHAMPLAIN'S FORTIFIED CAMP; THE FIRST HOUSE ERECTED IN QUEBEC. 



gallery descended and marched two abreast up one aisle and past the long pew 
which directly faced the pulpit and in which the elders and deacons sat. Here 
was the money-box, into which each person dropped his shilling or more, as the 
case might be, while the line was turning down the other aisle. There was 
an intermission of service at noon, when the people ate their luncheon 
in the adjacent school-house, where a wood-stove could be found, and 
discussed the village gossip and the public notices posted on the meeting, 
house door. 

In every family the minister of the parish was received with an awe and 
reverence which seemed suitable not only to the dignity of his calling, but to 
the extreme gravity of his deportment and the impressive character of his learn- 
ing. In weight and authority he was the peer of the village officials. Only the 



MINISTER AND SQUIRE. 93 

squire, the appointee of the Crown, was his superior ; for he held his office as 
representative of the Crown. If offenders did not pay the fines imposed upon 
them, this village dignitary could place them in the stocks, or order them to be 
whipped. Persons who lived disorderly, "misspending their precious time he 
could send to work-house, to the stocks, or to the whipping-post, at his discre- 
tion. He could break open doors where liquors were concealed to defraud His 
Majesty's excise. He could issue hue-and-cries for runaway servants and 
thieves. There are instances on record in which a justice of the peace issued 



*■ \- \. X *^V^'' 







COLONIAL MANSION. RESIDENCE OF THE LATE WILLIAM BULL PRINGLE, ES, 



l-, CHARLESTON, S. C. 



his warrant to arrest the town minister, about whose orthodo.xv there were dis- 
t.ress,ng. rumors, and required him to be examined upon matters of doctrine an. 
aith. But a more pleasing function of his office was to marry those who came 
to him for marriage bringing the town clerk's certificate that their nuptial inten- 
tions had been proclaimed at three religious meetings in the parish during the 
preceding fortnight. '»"g uie 

anrTl^'^n'' °^''' ''°"''"'' ""' '" ^"^-''^^' "°^ -"American institution, 
and did not long survive on our soil. What was peculiar to New England publi,^ 
life was the town meeting, held in the parish church. Every freeman of the 



94 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

township was obliged to attend it, under penalty of a fine. It distributed in 
early days the land among the settlers ; it regulated, often according to com- 
munistic and often according to protectionist principles, the industries of the 
community ; and it repressed gay fashions and undue liberties in speech and 
deportment. Its representatives were the selectmen and town-clerk, and were 
held in high esteem, from the respect due to their office. 

Yet none of these dignitaries, much as they were held in awe, could per- 
manently suppress the instincts of youth for gayer fashions and happier times. 
It is impossible on any rational basis to explain the inconsistent Puritan standards 
of right and wrong amusements. The most conscientious of Puritans would go, 
merely out of curiosity, to a hanging, and see no harm in it, but he looked with 
grave suspicion on church chimes as a worldly frivolity. Feasting he encouraged 
and religious services he discouraged at a funeral. Marriage he made a secular 
function ; the franchise religious. To dancing he objected as improper and to 
card-playing as dangerous, but he saw no harm in kissing-games and lotteries. 
Finally the influence of the city proved too much for him. Boston customs were 
imitated in the provincial towns. Young and old indulged in the fashionable 
disfigurements of the day. The women wore black patches on their faces to set 
off their complexions and the men slashed the sleeves of their coats to show the 
fine quality of their underclothes, and even funeral services became occasions 
for display. Sumptuary laws were ignored or repealed. The country towns 
became social centres. By the time of the American Revolution, New England 
was already merging from Puritanism, with its virtues and limitations, into a new 
Americanism, with its new merits and its new defects. 



The Romantic Story of Captain Kidd and 
Other Buccaneers and Pirates. 







To the north of Cuba, between that islaml and the 

g Great Bahama banks, is a navigable channel known as 

3 tlie old Bahama passage. Three centuries ago it had 

j| its day, a rich day, when freighted Spanish merchantmen 

:| and galleons, seeking in the new world the riches which 

:^ mipoverished Spain grasped so eagerly for, "dropped 

- down with cosdy bales" from Cuba and the American 

coast, finding their way by the Caicos passage to the 

ocean. 

Between Cuba and Haiti, or Hispaniola, is what is 
known as "the windward passage," almost at the inter- 
section of which with the Bahama channel, at the north- 
west end of Haiti, is Tortuga del Mar— the sea tortoise. 

As it was described in the sixteenth century, so it is to-daj-— a wooded, 
rocky island, with few inhabitants and much game. Its only good harbor is on 
the south, and the blue water that surrounds it is as clear as a mountain spring 
and deeper than the mountain itself. It covers the entrance to the little fort 
tified Haitian town of Port au Paix, with a strait ten miles wide between them. 
With its beauty of foliage, mild, sea-tempered, tropical climate, and advantacrg of 
position, nature evidendy intended Tortuga for a litde insular heaven, buttnan 
succeeded in making quite the reverse of it. On Tortuga the Buccaneers 
(formerly known as Boucaniers and Buccaniers) started and developed, till 
Spain rang with the terror and fame of their achievements, and throughout' the 
Antilles and the Spanish Main they enacted one of the most terrific "romances 
3f history. 

Boucaning, from which we get Buccanier, originally meant to prepare beef 
in a peculiar way, by smoking ; and the Buccaneers were cow-boys, who were a 
part of the French settlement that had driven the Spanish owners from Tortuga. 
The horses and cattle of the latter, running wild in large droves, afforded The 
material for their adventurous trade It was not long before these old-time 
" cowpunchers " became a separate and peculiar people, living much of their 
lives in camp, and returning to town only to dispose of their spoils and to 
commit untold debaucheries. Spain, in possession of Hispaniola, naturally was 

95 



0,6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

jealous of her interloping French neighbors. France disclaimed any responsi- 
bility for their acts, on the ground that she neither governed nor received 
tribute in Tortuga. Then the Spaniards tried to eject the Buccaneers, and only 
succeeded in incurring their undying enmity. At last a destruction of cattle 
drove the Frenchmen to more desperate adventures. 

The first departure was that of Pierre Le Grand, who, tired of the waning 
activity of the beef business, took a small vessel, and with twenty-eight men, 
cruised towards Caicos, with the purpose of surprising some Spanish merchant 
man. Finally discovering a war vessel, instead of such game as he was m 
search of, this Peter the Great approached to examine his prey more closely, 
and succeeded in exciting the suspicions of some of the Spaniards on board of 
the stranger, who told their captain that they believed the little vessel to be a 
pirate ; but the commander, who was vice-admiral of the Spanish fleet, laughed 
at their anxiety, replying that even if the Frenchman was near their own 
vessel's size they would have nothing to fear. 

Waiting till cover of evening, the Buccaneers approached so close to the 
Spaniard thJt they could not have withdrawn without discovery and suspicion. 
In order to insure success, Pierre made the pirates' chances desperate by 
scuttlincr his own vessel ; thereupon they closed with the man-of-war and 
boarded her with such adroitness and celerity that they succeeded in surprising 
the captain and some of his officers in the cabin, and, after a short struggle, 
shootino- down those that opposed them, possessed themselves of the gun 
room ^It was an easy but brilliant victory, an achievement that set the hot 
blood of the Tortuga Buccaneers in a sudden blaze, and freebooting on the 
hio-h seas became a't once a fashionable and much-followed profession. As for 
Pierre le Grand, the pioneer in piracy, he was content with his first venture, 
and havina taken his rich prize to France, remained there, never revisiting the 
Western World. Doubtless the Spaniards passing Cape de Alvarez in their 
little tobacco boats, or hide-laden vessels from Havana, were surprised and 
not pleasantly so. by the sudden appearance and activity of canoes and small 
boats manned with murderous Frenchmen from Tortuga. 

The Buccaneer was beginning his trade of piracy in a small way, 
industriously accumulating the capital with which to venture on greater 
enterprises The small vessels he converted into little freebooting ships ; the 
small cargoes he took home and sold in Tortuga, till he had enough saved to 
equip them properly. When everything was ready, and agreements as to the 
share of each man had been entered into, and every man had chosen his side 
partner who should share his good and evil fortune and stand by him in a 
fracas, the notice was given to assemble. Whereupon every pirate brought 
his powder and arms to the appointed place, and off they went. That was he 
fashion of it. As we would plan a little jaunt down the river, or across the 



DEEDS OF DARING. 97 

lake, or up to the top of a mountain to see the moon rise, these jolly 
Buccaneers got ready and went a-pirating. 

Let us not be misled at the outset by a glamour of romance which time and 
a partial historian have thrown about the deeds of the buccaneers. No more 
utterly debased, bestial, merciless, and bloodthirsty set of fiends ever figured 
in history ; but it is no less true that their physical fearlessm ss led them to deeds 
which, by their audacity and atrocity, set the world ringing with their fame. 

The first four great prizes were made within a month. Two of these were 
Spanish merchantmen and two were vessels loaded with plate at Campeche. 
Success so great, the proofs of which were at once brought to Tortuga, as to 
arouse the wildest enthusiasm. In a little time there were twenty vessels in 
the buccaneer fleet. Spain, disgusted at this new state of affairs, sent two 
men-of-war to guard her shipping. It is impossible to say how much more 
mischief might have been done had it not been for this precaution. As it was, 
the commerce of His Most Catholic Majesty suffered frightfully. 

A second Pierre, called Francois, led a crew of twenty-six men in a little 
vessel against the pearl fleet, near the river De La Plata, where they lay at work 
under the protection of a gun-boat. The man-of-war was barely half a league 
away from the fleet, but Francois resolved to attempt a swoop. He feigned to 
be a Spanish vessel coming up the coast from Maracaibo. On reaching the fleet 
he assaulted the vessel of the vice-admiral, of eight guns and sixty men, and 
forced a surrender. He then resolved to take the man-of-war. So he sunk his 
own boat and, compelling the Spaniards to assist him, set sail in the prize, with 
Spanish colors flying. Thinking that some of the sailors were trying to run 
away with what they had got, the man-of-war gave chase. This did not suit 
Fran9ois at all. It is one thing to fight a surprised and unsuspecting enemy, and 
quite another to combat a foe that greatly outweighs and outmeasures one's self 
when he is suspicious and advancing. Frangois tried to get away. That he 
would have succeeded in escaping had his rigging stood, there is little doubt. 
As it was the mainmast gave way under the sudden strain of canvas, and the 
freebooters were at the mercy of their enemy. On being overhauled Francois 
and his men — twenty-two of whom could fight — made a fierce resistance, but 
were at length overcome, but only yielded on favorable terms, which were that 
they were to be put, uninjured, on shore, on free land. 

It is estimated that the booty which they obtained and lost that day was 
worth about 100,000 pistoles, or about $400,000. 

In course of time, and no very long time. Port Royal, "in Jamaica, became 
the chief rendezvous for the pirates. On the harbor where Kingston now 
stands there is a little town to remind one of the city that was engulfed by the 
great earthquake — a city said to be the wickedest in the world. Near Port 
Royal, upon the same harbor, is a landing by which one could go, and still 



gS 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



can, by a short cut of half a dozen miles, to the capital city, Santiago de la 
Vega, now known as Spanish-Town. Near this landing there are large caverns 
and fissures of enormous depth, into which one may cast a stone and hear it 
bound and rebound, till the sound is lost in the distance. These caverns, 
tradition says, were the hiding places and silent accomplices in murder of the 
Buccaneers when they were hard pressed. Some are still supposed to contain 

vast treasure. 




Attracted 



great 



by the 
success of the 
Frenchmen, accessions 
from English, Portuguese, 
and Dutch mariners joined 
the ranks of those who 
preyed upon Spanish com- 
merce. Nearly always the 
buccaneers appear to have 
sailed under some semi- 
official letters of marque 
granted by the colonial 
governors. 

Bartholomew Portu- 
gues, a man of cat-like 
cunnincr, courage, and 
ferocity, was among the 
first to arrive. He had 
been a noted desperado 
in the old world before 
he ventured his fortunes 
in the new. With a small 
vessel, about thirty men, 
and four small cannon, he 
attacked a large Spaniard 
running from Maracaibo 
to Havana, and after being once repulsed succeeded in taking her. Her force 
of men was more than double his own, and her armament vastly larger, 
but she finally struck her flag to the pirate, who had lost ten or twelve 
men. Being bothered by head winds, Portugues sailed for a cape on the west 
end of Cuba, to repair and take in supplies. Just as he rounded the cape, he 
ran into the midst of three large Spanish vessels, by whom he was taken. 
Shortly afterward a storm arose and separated the ships, but the one which 
bore the desperado put into Campeche, where he was recognized by some 



{From the Portrait in " De Americaensche Zee Roovers.") 



BRAZILIANO. e,g 

Spaniards who had suffered at his hands in other waters. He was condemned 
without trial, to be hung at daybreak, and for safe keeping was confined that 
night on the ship ; but having a friend and accompHce near, he procured a knife, 
murdered his guard and escaped to land, floating on earthen wine jars, for he 
could not swim. Hiding in the woods for three days without food other than 
that the forest afforded, the pirate saw the parties sent in search of him 
and afterward traveled nearly forty leagues, living on what he could glean on 
the shore, and exposed to all the discomforts, which only those who have 
traveled in a tropical country can at all appreciate. On his journey he 
performed, it is said, a remarkable feat which illustrated his tenacity of 
purpose, and power of will. Coming to a considerable river and being unable 
to cross it by swimming, he shaped rude knives from some great nails which 
he found attached to a piece of wreckage on the shore, and with no other 
instrument, cut branches with which he constructed a sort of boat. When 
he reached Golfo Triste and found there others of his own kidney, he told 
them of his sufferings and adventures and begged a small boat and twenty men 
with which to return to Campeche. 

In the meantime the Spaniards, having supposed their foe dead, made a 
great rejoicing, which was summarily cut short by his unexpected return. In 
the dead of night he encountered the very vessel which had lately captured 
him, and from which he had escaped. She was lying in the mouth of the river. 

Softly the pii'ates steal across the starlit water, slipping from shadow to 
shadow along the shore, starting at the whistle of the duck or the hoarse cry 
of the flamingo, till they are in position to pounce upon their prey. Then 
a sudden dash, a few shots and groans, and Portugues is again the successful 
Buccaneer, the master of a rich prize. 

But he did not keep it long. He was wrecked on his way to Jamaica, and 
returned to that evil place as empty as when he started out, and although he 
engaged in several expeditions and made brilliant efforts to regain his 
advantages he never did so, but was always followed by the ill fortune he so 
richly deserved. 

Braziliano — a Dutchman, long resident in Brazil — had his share of 
notoriety. He won a rich prize or two and spent his money so recklessly that 
a fortune slipped through his fingers in three months. At this time Port Royal 
was so choicely wicked that only the quaint chronicler of three hundred years 
ago would dare to put in words the details of its debauchery, and only in the 
old fashioned style of that early day would the account be readable. Literally, 
wine flowed in the streets like water, was thrown over the persons of passers 
by, who were ordered, at the pistol mouth, to partake. Murder, lust, and 
drunkenness, in forms indescribably beyond all precedent or comparison, were 
the order of the day. And this tremendous reputation for crime and 

L.crc. 



lOO THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

debauchery, that is pre-eminent after the lapse of centuries, was won in less 
than half a generation. 

After a little the Spaniards, grown wary, were too well convoyed and 
armed to be easy conquests, and a new era was inaugurated. Lewis Scott was 
the first of the Buccaneers to attempt the adventures upon land which added 
so greatly to the fame of the freebooters. He attacked and almost destroyed 
the town of Campeche. His example incited the Dutchman, Mansvelt, who 
invaded Grenada, the island of St. Catherine, which he took, and which was for 
some time a pirate rendezvous, and Carthagena. 

Nor must we forget John Davis, whose fame is only second to that of 
Morgan himself. Davis was a Jamaican by birth. His first great exploit was 
the sack of Nicaragua. He had in all forty men, of whom he left ten to guard 
the vessel, and with the remainder, in three boats, approached the city. 

Sending a captive Indian slave in advance to murder the sentry, the party 
landed and went from house to house, knocking and entering, putting the in- 
mates to death and looting all they could lay their hands on. They pillaged 
the churches and took prisoners for ransom, escaping when the hue and cry 
was raised, and the uproar in the suddenly awakened city taught them that it 
was time to retreat. The Spaniards followed them to the seashore, but too late 
to recover their townsmen or treasure, though not too late to receive a warm 
parting salute from the guns of the pirate. The value of booty acquired on 
this raid is said to have exceeded $300,000 in gold, besides much plate and 
jewels — probably all told reaching ^^75,000 more. We next learn of Davis as 
the commander of a fleet of half a dozen or more pirate vessels, and among 
other adventures is that of the capture of St. Augustine, Florida. 

LOLONOIS AND HIS ADVENTURES. 

The plans and exploits of the pirates continued to grow in magnitude. 
Their vessels became fleets and their fleets almost navies. One of the great 
leaders was Lolonois, who began in the early days of buccaneering on Tortuga, 
and rose to be a freebooter of great prominence and reputation. The Gov. 
ernor of Tortuga, Monsieur de la Place, was so struck with his qualities that he 
gave him his first ship. He so beset the Spaniards in her that it is said by his 
biographer that " the Spaniards, in his time, would rather die fighting than 
surrender, knowing they .should have no mercy at his hands." 

He gained great wealth, but after awhile lost his ship on the coast of Cam- 
peche, where he and his crew, after escaping from the wreck, were beset and 
almost destroyed by the Spaniards. Lolonois himself, being wounded, feigned 
death and was passed over by his foes. Afterwards escaping, by the aid of 
some negroes to whom he made great promises, the captain got back to Tor 
tuga, and after some trouble succeeded in getting another vessel and crew 



LOLONOIS AND HIS ADVENTURES. 



lOI 



With these he put into the port of Cayos, and learning the channel from some 
captive fishermen, lay in wait for a vessel which the governor of Cuba sent to 
capture him. After nightfall, while the vessel lay at anchor, several boats 
approached her, and were hailed with the inquiry whether they had seen any 
pirates. The fishermen in the boat replied that they had not. But beside the 
fishermen were pirates, compelling them to answer so. Thereupon the boats 
drew nearer, and presently the Buccaneers assaulted, swarming up both sides 
of the great vessel and 
forced the Spaniards be- 
low hatches. From below 
decks they were ordered 
out one by one and deca- 
pitated at Lolonois' order. 
One man alone was saved, 
to bear a message back 
to the governor, to the 
effect that the pirate cap- 
tain would never spare 
any Spaniard thereafter, 
and hoped shortly to make 
an end of the governor 
himself 

While cruising in this 
ship, another vessel was 
taken near Maracaibo — a 
ship loaded with plate and 
merchandise. With this 
Lolonois returned to Tor- 
tuea to receive the con- 
gratulations and praise 
that usually await the suc- 
cessful. 

I His next venture was 

with eight vessels, ten guns 
and nearly seven hundred men. His first prize was a ship of sixteen guns with 
fifty fighting men on board. She yielded after hot fighting for three hours, 
the flag-ship of the pirate fleet having engaged her singly without assistance 
from the others. She contained, besides a rich cargo, a treasure of ovei fifty 
thousand pistoles, of |;20o,ooo in value. Other prizes soon put the fleet in a 
position to attempt more extensive operations. 

The Gulf of Venezuela or Bay of Maracaibo, as it was called, afforded a 




{From the Portrait in "Z>^ Americaensche Zee Roovers.") 



I02 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

peculiarly tempting field for the freebooter, Lolonois. Its narrow channel, 
protected by the watch tower and fortress on the islands at its mouth, led to a 
lake near which the Spaniards had settled several towns and cities, whose wealth 
came to be quite disproportioned to their size or populations. Maracaibo, 
Gibralter, Merida — all had much to recommend them to the hungry pirate. 
One can hardly understand at first how so much silver and other valuable 
booty could have been gathered from the insignificant settlements of the 
Spanish Main ; but when we consider that from Peru and the Pacific settlements 
to the islands of the Caribbean there was almost constant communication, that 
the inhabitants of all were reaping the full advantage of being first in a rich 
treasure field, and that there were no banks, each man holding or hoarding 
his own gains and keeping his capital under his own roof, the mystery grows 
less. 

To Maracaibo Lolonois shaped his fleet's course. Arriving at the entrance, 
he landed and took the fort or earthworks by storm, in a fight which lasted for 
several hours, then, sailing through the passage, brought his whole fleet into 
the lake and towards Maracaibo, which lay about six leagues beyond. Becalmed 
in sight of the town, the inhabitants saw the fleet and had time to flee with much 
of their treasure towards Gibralter. But on the following day the invaders landed 
and Lolonois sent a company of men into the woods to follow the fugitives, 
whose houses, with stores of food and drink, stood open. By the time the search 
party returned with such prisoners and booty as they could recover, the remain- 
der of the crews were not of the soberest, as might be imagined. Then began 
one of those revolting scenes of cruelty and crime, the details of which we follow 
shudderingly. Men were tortured in every conceivable way, their limbs broken, 
their bodies mutilated, their most sacred feelings outraged, to force them to a 
confession of hidden riches. Many a poor wretch died under the torments 
inflicted, protesting with his dying breath that he could not reveal what he had 
never known. For fifteen days Maracaibo was occupied, till like a lemon whose 
juice is exhausted and the rind flung away, it was abandoned and the murderers 
proceeded towards Gibralter, which was a smaller town than Maracaibo, but in 
communication with Merida, to which place the pirates advanced last, after having 
treated Gibralter as they had Maracaibo. The governor of Merida, who had 
been a soldier in Flanders and who made no doubt that he could hold his own 
in a fight with the freebooters, barricaded the roads, felled trees in the passages 
through the swamps and planted batteries where they would be of most avail. 
Over these obstructions Lolonois and his men were obliged to fight their way 
step by step, now taking the woods and anon the road, but swearing with curses 
loud and deep that the Spaniards would have to pay for their discomfiture. It 
came near being a defeat for the buccaneers, as they were outnumbered and 
overmatched, and would probably have been totally destroyed, or at least have 



MORGAN, THE PRINCE OF BUCCANEERS. J03 

escaped only with severe loss, but for a very old stratagem. Pretending to flee, 
they drew the enemy from one of his strongest batteries, and then turning, 
overpowered and defeated him. 

After Merida had been taken and new cruelties devised for its suffering 
inhabitants the captors rested there four weeks, until the increasing death-rate 
among them warned tliem to escape from a climate to which their excesses 
made them easy victims. Sending parties then into the woods for those who 
had still preserved their lives there, the pirate captain demanded a ransom for 
the town, promising to- burn it to the ground if 10,000 pistoles were not imme- 
diately forthcoming. Finally this sum was secured, but only after part of 
Merida had been consumed with fire. A similar ransom was extorted from the 
already exhausted Maracai])o as the fleet passed out of the gulf and then the 
buccaneers sailed away, having 260,000 pistoles in ready money and an immense 
booty in merchandise. 

It would be impossible and not very instructive to follow Lolonois through 
his further adventures. He sacked many cities, killed and tortured numberless 
Spaniards, won and wasted an almost countless treasure, and at last died a 
miserable death of lingering torture at the hands of some enraged Indians. 

Following Lolonois came Henry Morgan, the last and greatest of the 
Buccaneers, whose crimes and adventures have made him, in the popular 
conception a sort of nautical demi-god ; only second in fame to Sir Francis 
Drake, and much greater in exploits. 

Without question, Morgan was a remarkable man. A Welsh boy, sold for 
his passage to the New World,. after the fashion of those days, he was a naval 
commander who belonged to no navy, a conqueror to whom conquest and 
pillage were equal terms, a genius in murder and robbery. He commanded at 
times many ships and hundreds of pirates, yet was one of those instrumental in 
putting down piracy. He was utterly lawless, yet always claimed that he sailed 
under commission from the Governor of Jamaica. He was knighted for one of 
his most outrageous acts of piracy at a time when the Governor who had given 
him his commission was in prison for doing so. He was Acting-Governor of 
the very island where most of the fruits of his lawlessness had been exhibited, 
and where he was said to have wisely maintained the laws. He became a 
planter of wealth and repute, and finally languished in an English prison for 
the crimes so long condoned. Certainly, romance need not seek further than 
this for material. 

One of Morgan's earliest exploits was the taking of Puerto Bello, in Costa 
Rica. This he effected partly by stratagem, causing the sentry to be seized 
and approaching the strong walls of the city under cover of darkness. He also 
managed to surprise the inmates of some religious houses, priests and nuns, 
whom he afterwards put forward as a defense to his soldiers when scaling 



I04 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



ladders were brought into use. But never was a more obstinate defense made 
and never was Henry Morgan more nearly defeated than that day at Puerto 
Bello. The Spaniards fought with fury, the Governor especially showing no 
mercy and finally refusing all quarter, dying with his sword in his hand, crying 
that he would rather fall a soldier than live a coward. 

St. Catherine's Island was taken by Morgan, to be used as a pirate ren- 
dezvous, but the Governor of that place, while agreeing to capitulate before a 
blow had been struck, insisted on a sham battle to save his credit. To this 
Moro-an good-naturedly acceded. Following the example of Lolonois and 
others, he attacked ill-fated Maracaibo and put the inhabitants to torture worse 
than that which they had before suffered. We will not go into details, having 
already supped on horrors. More interesting is the account of the dilemma 
in which the buccaneer found himself upon seeking to leave the Gulf of Vene- 
zuela with his ships loaded with booty and prisoners. He had eight little 
vessels. He found opposing him several war ships in the narrow passage 
already so well guarded by the guns of the fortress on the island. The Admiral 
of the Spanish tleet sent a letter to Morgan telling him that he might be 
allowed to escape on condition of leaving all his plunder behind, but that other- 
wise he would be treated without mercy. 

The Buccaneer might have said, as General Sheridan is reported to have 
said on a much later occasion, " I am in a bottle and the enemy have the neck 
of it." However, he made a bold front and resolved to perish in fighting his 
way out rather than abandon his ill-gotten gains. By means of a fire ship, 
cunningly manned and armed with dummies, he managed to deceive and 
destroy the largest of the Spanish ships and then defeated the others. This 
accomplished, he waited for a favorable opportunity to pass the fort, the guns 
of which still pointed too ominously across the exit. 

The question was how to turn those guns the other way. Finally he hit 
upon a scheme. Sending boat after boat to the shore filled with men and return- 
ing apparently empty to the ships, but in reality with their crews lying covered 
in the bottoms, he deceived the Spaniards into believing that he meditated a 
nifht attack on the fort from the landward side. In consequence all the great 
guns were turned that way, in expectation. Then the crafty captain stood out 
to sea, firing a salute of bullets, to which the disgusted garrison did not attempt 
to reply. 

When Morgan had reduced Puerto Bello he had a passage of arms with 
the Governor of Panama, who had come vainly to the relief of that place. A 
little bit of theatrical civility or courtesy took place at the time, the Governor 
sending a message to Morgan, to know by what arms he had succeeded in 
overcoming so strong a fortress ; and the captain politely returning a pistol and 
bullets with a message to the effect that he would come for them in a year. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



105 



After awhile Morgan went for that pistol. This was in 1670. Sending 
some vessels in advance, which toolc the town of Chagres, the leader presently 
came and led them across the Isthmus, where they met with almost unbearable 
hardships on the march. It was the month of August. A litde army of twelve 
hundred men, with artillery 
and ammunition, pushed on 
foot across a country where 
men have since ridden and 
thought it hardship. They 
had no food ; the fatigue was 
great ; hostile Indians added 
their unwelcome addresses 
to the pangs of starvation ; 
yet the intrepid pirates kept 
on as though they expected 
in some way to be miracu- 
lously saved from the death 
that in different disguises 
peered at them from the 
ambushes along the way. 
One would suppose that 
their ardor would have been 
tamed ; but on the contrary, 
when they came in sight 
of Panama, these irrepressi- 
ble freebooters cheered and 
threw up their hats as 
though they had been out 
for a holiday. This was on 
the ninth or tenth day of 
the march. Almost within 
sight of the city they found 
food, which they devoured 
like wild beasts. They had 
one or two skirmishes, and 
at last were rejoiced to see 
a company of the Spaniards coming to meet them. These men, who were 
mounted, came near enough to call names and shout unpleasant things to them, 
but soon retired and left the way clear to the city. But Morgan, a schemer 
himself feared an ambuscade. He made a detour to avoid the batteries which 
he judged rightly, the enemy had put in the way. Then the Spaniards left 




BLACKBEARD, THE PIRATE. 



io6 



KIDD AND BLACKBEARD. 



these works and came to meet him. There were four regiments of foot, ^ 
body of horse and a large number of wild bulls that were driven by Indians. 
There was something humorous in the idea of 
sending cattle against buccaneers ; but there was ^^^ V'^'^^ir 




DIGGING FOR KIDD S TREASURES. 



very little military judgment in it. asj 
the sequel showed. The bulls ran away. The Spanish forces, nearly if not 
Ojuite three thousand strong, were vanquished after a sanguinary battle, and the 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 107 

city of Panama was taken and looted, after which Captain Morgan put it to 
the torch. 

Two churches, eight monasteries, two hundred warehouses, and a great 
number of residences were the prizes which this richest of American cities 
offered. They were all utterly stripped, and the usual tortures resorted to in 
order to extort confessions concerning the treasure which might possibly be 
hidden. People were burned alive, eyes dug out, ears and noses cut off, arms 
dislocated, and all imagined or unheard-of barbarities practiced. Then the 
greatest of all pirates and freebooters went away with a hundred and seventy 
beasts laden with precious metals and jewels and merchandise of value, besides 
six hundred prisoners. He made, when he reached the coast, a false division 
of spoils among his men, and escaping with the lion's share abjured piracy 
and became, as has been before said, a knight of Charles the Second's creation, 
and an exemplary planter and Governor of the island of Jamaica ! 

We have dwelt longr, — too long-, — with the Buccaneers. There were other 
pirates of a later time whose names are not less familiar, and one at least of the 
number whose fame is world wide. I mean Captain Kidd, who stood upon 
a sort of middle ground between the buccaneers and the marooners proper. 
Teach, or Blackbeard, made his headquarters among the Bahama Islands and 
was a past-master of claptrap. He created theatrical effects with burned brim- 
stone and paint, and not only tortured others but himself as well, giving us 
every reason to believe him an insane man. That he took and buried treasure 
at different points is certain, and probably the half of his villanies have never 
been told. But of Blackbeard and Avery and Roberts we can say very little ; 
they were roaring, ranting, raving pirates, per sc. Their stories lack the flavor 
of courag-e and dash of romance that make us willing to endure the recital of 
the crimes of Morgan, Lolonois or the rest of the Buccaneers. 

But we may not leave Kidd so. Along every mile of Atlantic coast in the 
United States his money has been dreamed about and often searched for. The 

story of how he 

" Murdered William More 
And left him in his gore 
As he sailed," 

is part of our nursery education. 

There were pirates troubling the shipping of the very good Dutch-English 
town of New York long ago, and some very good and very rich merchants 
obtained a commission from Lord Bellamont for William Kidd to go out and 
look for pirates, which he did, and found one. 

It was a little hard on the respectable merchants aforementioned, that they 
should have been suspected by an envious world of sharing in the profits of the 
piratical voyages. More was a gunner, or gunner's mate, whom Captain Kidd 



io8 



THE MARO ONERS. 



put to death ; and it is one of the curious examples of the working of law that 
Kidd after his capture would have escaped under a general amnesty to pirates 
had he not been held on the charge of murder. He enjoyed the unenviable dis- 
tinction of being the one of very few pirates who have been hung. 

But, nevertheless, though the fame of Kidd and Morgan is so pre-eminent, 

there are others only second to 



them in renown — others whose 
names and deeds have also been 
chronicled by Captain Johnson, the 
famous historian of scoundreldom. 
Captain Bartholomew Roberts, for 
instance, if he may not have had 
the fortune to be so famous as the 
two above-mentioned worthies, yet, 
in his marvelous escapes and deeds 
of darine, he well deserves to stand 
upon the same pedestal of renown. 
And Captain Avery, though his his- 
tory is, perhaps, more apocryphal 
in its nature, nevertheless there is 
sufficient stamina of trust in the 
account of his exploits to grant him 
also a place with his more famous 
brothers, for the four together — 
Blackbeard, Kidd, Roberts, and 
Avery — form a galaxy the like of 
which is indeed hard to match in 
its own peculiar brilliancy. 

Through circumstances the 
hunter name of buccaneers was 
given to the seventeenth century 
pirates and freebooters ; the term 
" marooners " was bestowed upon 
those who followed the same trade 
The name has in itself a terrible sienificance. The 




CAPTAIN BARTHOLOMEW ROBERTS. 



in the century succeeding 

dictionary tells us that to maroon is to put ashore as upon a desert island, and 

it was from this that the title was derived. 

These later pirates, the marooners, not being under the protection of the 
West Indian Governors, and having no such harbor for retreat as that, for 
instance, of Port Royal, were compelled to adopt some means for the disposal of 
prisoners captured with their prizes other than taking them into a friendly port. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 109 

Occasionally such unhappy captives were set adrift in the ship's boats — with 
or without provisions, as the case might be. A method of disposing of them, 
maybe more convenient, certainly more often used, was to set them ashore upon 
some desert coast or uninhabited island, with a supply of water perhaps, and 
perhaps a gun, a pinch of powder, and a few bullets — there to meet their fate, 
either in the slim chance of a passing vessel or more probably in death. 

Nor was marooning the fate alone of the wretched captives of their piracy ; 
sometimes it was resorted to as a punishment among themselves. Many a 
mutinous pirate sailor and not a few pirate captains have been left to the horrors 
of such a fate, either to die under the shriveling glare of the tropical sun upon 
some naked sand-spit or to consume in the burning of a tropical fever amid the 
rank wilderness of mangroves upon some desert coast. 

Hence the name marooners. 

The Tudor sea-captains were little else than legalized pirates, and in them 
we may see that first small step that leads so quickly into the smooth down- 
ward path. The buccaneers, in their semi-legalized piracy, succeeded them as 
effect follows cause. Then, as the ultimate result, followed the marooners — 
fierce, bloody, rapacious, human wild beasts, lusting for blood and plunder, 
godless, lawless, the enemy of all men but their own wicked kind. 

Is there not a profitable lesson to be learned in the history of such a human 
extreme of evil — all the more wicked from being the rebound from civilization ? 

Even to this day imaginative fishermen and oystermen on Connecticut 
and Long Island shores occasionally see a phantom ship sailing, with all sail set, 
across some neck of land ; and more than one will tell how he started to dig for 
a treasure, and was driven away by having the pirate vessel bear down upon 
him, wnich goes to show that once in awhile fiction is stranger than fact. 

7 



The Story of the RevoIution==Its Battles 

and Heroes. 



--M' 




A WITTY foreicrner, watching the course of the American 
Revokition, wrote to Benjamin Franklin that Great Britain 
was undertaking the task "of catching two milHons of people 
in a boundless desert with fifty thousand men." This was a 
crude and inaccurate way of putting it, but it expresses suc- 
cinctly the magnitude and difficulty of the campaign that lay 
before the British generals. When Parliament rather reluc- 
tantly authorized the raising of twenty-five thousand men for 
the war, Great Britain was still forced to obtain most 
of this number by subsidizing German mercenaries 
""^ from the small principalities, who were indiscrimi- 
nately called Hessians by the colonists, and the em- 
:^^^ ployment of whom did much to still further provoke 
-_^=^'- bitterness of feeling. At one time in the Revolution 
" ""- Great Britain had over three hundred thousand men 
in arms, the world over, but of this number not more 
than one-tenth could be sent to America. But the 
-^ greatest obstacle to British success lay in the fact 
■ that the English leaders, military and civil, constantly 
underrated the courage, endurance, and earnestness 
of their opponents. That raw militia could stand 
their ground against regulars was a hard lesson for 



flS tiie British to learn ; that men fro 



m civil 



life could 
jiJjjjl?:;.: show such aptitude for strategy, as did Washington, 
Schuyler, and Greene, was a revelation to the profes- 
sional military men, the significance of which they 
grasped only when it was too late. 

Above all, the one thing that made the colonists 
the victors was the indomitable energy, self-renuncia- 
tion, and strategic ability of George Washington. 
We are so accustomed to think of Washington's moral qualities, that it is only 

III 



THE MONUMENT ON BUNKER HILL 



112 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



when we come close to the history of the war that we fully recognize how great 
was his military genius — a genius which justly entitles him to rank with the few 

truly great soldiers of his- 
tory, such as Alexander, 
Caesar, Napoleon, and Von 
Moltke. Almost alone 
among- the American een- 



erals of the Revolution, he 
was always willing to subor- 
dinate his own personal 
glory to the final success 
of his deep laid and com- 
prehensive plans. Again 
and again he risked his 
standing with Congress, 




and ran the danger of 
being superseded by one 
or another jealous general 
of lower rank, rather than 
yield in a particle his de- 
liberate scheme of cam- 
paign. Others received 
the popular honors for bril- 
liant single movements 
while he waited and plan- 
ned for the final result. 
What the main lines of his 
strategy were we shall en- 
deavor to make clear in 
the following sketch : — 

When the news of the 
running fight from Con- 
cord to Lexington spread 
through the country, the 
militia hurried from every 
direction toward Boston. 
Israel Putnam literally left 
his plough in the field ; 
John Stark, with his sturdy 
New Hampshire volunteers, reached the spot in three days ; Nathaniel Greene 
headed fifteen hundred men from Rhode Island ; Benedict Arnold led a band 




WASIIINUTON's KECEITION at TRENTON. 



114 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



of patriots from Connecticut ; the more distant colonies showed equal eager- 
ness to aid in the defense of American liberties. Congress displayed deep 
wisdom in appointing George Washington Commander in Chief, not only 
because of his personal ability and the trust all men had in him, but because 
it was politically an astute measure to choose the leader from some other 
State than Massachusetts. But before Washington could reach the Con- 
cinental forces, as they soon began to be called, the battle of Bunker Hill 
had been fought. And before that, even, Ethan Allen, with his Green Moun 
tain Boys, had seized Fort Ticonderoga "in the name of Jehovah and the Con- 
tinental Congress " — which Congress, by the way, showed momentarily some 
reluctance to sanction this first step of aggressive warfare. The occupation by 
Allen and Arnold of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, at the southern end of 
Lake Champlain, was of great military importance, both because of the large 
quantities of ammunition stored there, and because these places defended the 
line of the Hudson River valley against an attack from Canada. 

The battle of Bunker Hill, looked at from the strictly military point of 
view, was a blunder on both sides, astonishing as was its moral effect. The 
hill, properly named Breed's Hill, but to which the name of Bunker Hill is 
now forever attached, rises directly back of Charlestown, on a peninsula con- 
nected with the main land by a narrow isthmus. The American forces seized 
this on the night of June i6th, 1775, and worked the night through intrenching 
themselves as well as they could. With the morning came the British attack. 
The position might easily have been reduced by seizing the isthmus, and for this 
reason the Americans had hardly shown military sagacity in their occupation of 
the hill. But the British chose rather to storm the works from the front. 
Three times the flower of the English army in battle line swept up the hill ; 
twice they were swept back with terrible loss, repulsed by a fire which was 
reserved until they were close at hand ; the third time they seized the position, 
but only when the Americans had exhausted their ammunition, and even then 
only after a severe hand to hand fight. The British loss was over a thousand 
men ; the American loss about four hundred and fifty. When Washington 
heard of the battle he instantly asked If the New England militia had stood 
the fire of the British regulars, and when the whole story was told him he 
exclaimed, "The liberties of the country are safe." The spirit shown then and 
thereafter by our sturdy patriots is well illustrated by the story (chosen as the 
subject of one of our pictures) of the minister, who when In one battle there 
was a lack of wadding for the guns, brought out an armful of hymn books and 
exclaimed "Give them Watts, boys ! " 

The next clash of arms came from Canada. General Montgomery led two 
thousand of the militia against Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, and easily 
aptured it (November 12, 1775). Thence he descended the St. Lawrence to 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 



"5 



Quebec, where he joined forces with Benedict Arnold, wno had brought twelve 
hundred men through the Maine wilderness, and the two Generals attacked 
the British stronghold of Quebec. The attempt was a failure ; Arnold was 
wounded, Montgomery was killed, and 
though the Americans fought gallantly 
they were driven back from Canada by 




superior forces. Meanwhile 
the siege of Boston was syste- 
matically carried on by Wash- 
ington, and in the spring of 
1776 the American General gained a 
commanding position by seizing Dor« 
Chester Heights (which bore much the 
same relation to Boston on the South that Breed's Hill did on the North) and 
General Howe found himself forced to evacuate the city. He sailed with his 
whole force for Halifax, taking with him great numbers of American sym- 
pathizers with British rule, together with their property. 



xi6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

The new Congress met at Philadelphia in May. During the first month of 
its sessions it became evident that there had been an immense advance in pub- 
lic opinion as to the real issue to be maintained. Several of the colonies had 
expressed a positive conviction that National independence must be demanded. 
Mrginia had formally instructed her delegates to take that ground, and it was 
on the motion of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, seconded by John Adams, of 
Massachusetts, that Congress proceeded to consider the resolution " That these 
united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States ; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be 
totally dissolved." This bold utterance was adopted on July 2d by all the colo- 
nies except New York. The opposition came mainly from Pennsylvania and 
New York, and was based, not on lack of patriotism, but on a feeling that the 
time for such an assertion had not yet come, that a stronger central government 
should first be established, and that attempts should be made to secure a for- 
eign alliance. It should be noticed that the strongest opponents of the measure, 
John Dickinson and Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, were among the most 
patriotic supporters of the Union. To Robert Morris in particular, whose skill 
as a financier steered the young Nation through many a difiiculty, the country 
owes a special debt of gratitude. The Declaration of Independence, formally 
adopted two days later, was written mainly by the pen of Thomas Jefferson. 
It is unique among State papers — a dignified though impassioned, a calm 
though eloquent, recital of injuries inflicted, demand for redress, and avowal of 
liberties to be maintained with the sword. Its adoption was hailed, the country 
through, as the birth of a new Nation. Never before has a country about to 
appeal to war to decide its fate put upon record so clear-toned and deliberate 
an assertion of its purposes and its reasons, and thus summoned the world and 
posterity to witness the justice and righteousness of its cause. 

Thus far in the war the engagements between the opposing forces had 
been of a detached kind — not related, that is, to any broad plan of attack or 
defense. Of the same nature also was the British expedition against South 
Carolina, led by Sir Henrj^ Clinton and Lord Cornwallis. Their fleet attacked 
Charleston, but the fort was so bravely defended by Colonel Moultrie, from his 
palmetto-log fortifications on Sullivan's Island, that the fleet was forced to aban- 
don the attempt and to return to New York. But the British now saw that it 
was imperative to enter upon a distinct and extensive plan of campaign. That 
adopted was sagacious and logical ; its failure w*as due. not to any inherent 
defect in itself but to lack of persistency in adhering to it. Washington under- 
stood it thoroughly from the first, and bent all his energies to tempting the 
enemy to diverge from the main object In view. The plan, in brief was this : 
New York City was to be seized and held as a base of supplies and centre of 



THE BRITISH PLAN FEASIBLE. 117 

operations ; from it a stretch of country to the west was to he occupied and 
held, thus cuttinor off communication between New York and the New England 
States on the one side and Pennsylvania and the Southern Stat(;s on the other. 
Meanwhile a force was to be pushed down from Canada to tlu; head of the 
I hulson River, to be met by another force pushed northward up the Hudson. 
In this way New England would be practically surrounded, and it was thought 
that its colonies could be reduced one by one, while simultaneously or later an 
army coukl march southward upon Philadelphia. The plan was cjuite feasible, 
but probably at no time did the British have sufficient force to carry it out in 
detail. They wofully over-estimated, also, the assistance they might receive 
from the Tories in New York State. And they still more wofully under-esti- 
mated Washington's ability as a strategist in blocking their schemes. 

General Howe, who was now Commander-in-Chief of the British army, 
drew his forces to a head ujjon .Staten Island, combining there the troops which 
had sailed from Boston to I lalifax, with Clinton's forces which had failed at 
Charleston, and the Hessians newly arrived. In all he had over thirty thousand 
soldiers. Washington, \\\\o had transferred his heatlquarters from Boston to 
the vicinity of New York after the former city had been evacuated by the 
British, occupied the Brooklyn Heights with about twenty thousand poorly 
equipped and undrilled colonial troops. To hold that position against the 
larger forces of regulars seemed a hopeless task; but every point was to be 
contested. In point of fact, only five thousand of the Americans were engaged 
in the battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776) against twenty thousand men 
brought by General Howe from Staten Island. The Americans were driven 
back after a hotly contested fight. Before Howe could follow up his victory 
Washington i)lanned and executed one of those extraordinary', rapid movements 
which so often amazed his enemy ; in a single night he withdrew his entire army 
across the East River into New York in boats, moving so secretly and swiftly 
that the British first fountl out what had happened when they saw the deserted 
camps before them on the following morning. Drawing back through the city 
Washington made his next stand at Harlem Heights, occupying Fort Washing- 
ton on the east and Fort Lee on the west side of the Hudson, thus guarding 
the line of the river while prepared to move southward toward Philadelphia if 
occasion should rccpiire. In the battle of White Plains the Americans suffered 
a repulse, but much more dispiriting to W^ashington was the disarrangement 
of his plans caused by the interference of Congress. That over-prudent body 
sent s[)ecial orders to General Greene, at I'ort Washington, to hold it at all 
odds, while Washington had directed Greene to be ready on the first attack to 
fall back upon the main army in New Jersey. The result was the capture of 
I'ort Washington, with a loss of three thousand prisoners. To add to the 
naisfortune, General Charles Lee, who commanded a wing of the American 




a 
< 

< 



2 s 

9 "^ 

o I 

2 






RECKONED WITHOUT HIS HOST. ng 

army on the east side of the river, absolutely ignored Washington's orders to 
join him. Lee was a soldier of fortune, vain, ambitious, and volatile, and there 
is little doubt tinat his disobedience was due to his hope that Washington was 
irretrievably ruined and that he might succeed to the command. Gathering his 
scattered troops together as well as he could, Washington retreated through 
New Jersey, meeting everywhere with reports that the colonists were in despair, 
that many had given in their allegiance to the British, that Congress had fled to 
Baltimore, and that the war was looked on as almost over. In this crisis it was 
an actual piece of rare good fortune that Charles Lee should be captured by 
soldiers while spending the night at a tavern away from his camp, for the result 
was that Lee's forces were free to join Washington's command, and at once 
did so. Altogether some six thousand men were left in the army, and 
were drawn into something like coherence on the other side of the Delaware 
River. General Howe announced that he had now nothing to do but wait the 
freezing of the Delaware, and then to cross over and "catch Washington and 
end the war." 

But he reckoned without his host. Choosino-, as the best time for his bold 
and sudden movement, Christmas night, when revelry in the camp of the 
enemy might be hoped to make them careless, Washington crossed the river. 
Leading in person the division of twenty-five hundred men, which alone suc- 
ceeded in making the passage over the river, impeded as it was with great 
blocks of ice, he marched straight upon the Hessian outposts at Trenton and 
captured them with ease. Still his position was a most precarious one. Corn- 
wallis was at Princeton with the main British army, and marching directly upon 
the Americans, penned them up, as he thought, between Trenton and the 
Delaware. It is related that Cornwallis remarked, "At last we have run down 
the old fox, and we will bag him in the morning." But before morning came 
Washington had executed another surprising and decisive manoeuvre. Main- 
taining a great show of activity at his intrenchments, and keeping camp-fires 
brightly burning, he noiselessly led the main body of his army round the flank 
of the British force and marched straight northward upon Princeton, capturing 
as he went the British rear guard on Its way to Trenton, seizing the British 
post of supplies at New Brunswick, and in the end securing a strong position 
on the hills in Northern New Jersey, with Morristown as his headquarters. 
There he could at last rest for a time, strengthen his army, and take advantage 
of the prestige which his recent operations had brought him. 

Let us turn our attention now to the situation further north. General 
Burgoyne had advanced southward from Canada through Lake Champlain and 
had easily captured Ticonderoga. His object was, of course, to advance in the 
same line to the south until he reached the Hudson River ; but this was a very 
different matter from what he had supposed it. General Schuyler was in com- 



I20 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



mand of the Americans, and showed the highest miHtary skill in opposing Bur- 
goyne's progress, cutting off his sup- 
plies and harassing him generally. An 
expedition to assist Burgoyne had been 
sent down the St. Lawrence to Lake 
Ontario, thence to march eastward to 
the head of the Hudson, gathering aid 
as it went from the Indians and Tories. 






mm 



This expedi- 
tion was an 
utter failure ; 
a t Oriskanv 

SUKRENDER OF BURGOV.NE. , .-p, . 

the lories and 
British were defeated in a fiercely fought battle, in which a greater proportion 



SURRENDER OF GENERAL BURGOYNR. 121 

of those engaged were killed than in any other battle of the war. Disheart 
ened at this, and at the near approach of Benedict Arnold, St. Leger, who 
was at the head of the expedition, fled in confusion back to Canada. 
Meanwhile Burgoyne had sent out a detachment to gather supplies. This 
was utterly routed at Bennington by the Vermont farmers under General 
Stark. Through all the country round about the Americans were flocking to 
arms, their patriotism enforced by their horror at the atrocities committed by 
Burgoyne's Indian allies and by the danger to their own homes. Practically,: 
Burgoyne was surrounded, and though he fought bravely in the battles of Still- 
water (September 19, 1777) and Bemis's Heights (October 7th), he was over- 
matched. Ten days after the last-named battle he surrendered with all his 
forces to General Gates, who was now at the head of the American forces in 
that vicinity and thus received the nominal honor of the result, although it was 
really due rather to the skill and courage of General Schuyler and General 
Arnold. Almost six thousand soldiers laid down their arms, and the artillery, 
small arms, ammunition, clothing, and other military stores which fell into Gen- 
eral Gates's hands were immensely valuable. Almost greater than the prac- 
tical gain of this splendid triumph was that of the respect at once accorded 
throughout the world to American courage and military capacity. 

General Burgoyne had every right to lay the blame for the mortifying 
failure of his expedition upon Howe, who had totally failed to carr)^ out his 
part of the plan of campaign. It was essential to the success of this plan that 
Howe should have pushed an army up the Hudson to support Burgoyne. In 
leaving this undone he committed the greatest blunder of the war. Why he 
acted as he did was for a long while a mystery, but letters brought to light 
eighty years after the war was over show that he was strongly influenced by 
the traitorous arguments of his prisoner, Charles Lee, who for a time, at least, 
had decided to desert the American cause. While in this frame of mind he 
convinced Howe that there was plenty of time to move upon and seize 
Philadelphia and still come to Burgoyne's aid in season. Howe should have 
known Washington's methods better by this time. At first the British General 
attempted a march through New Jersey, but for nearly three weeks Washington 
blocked his movements, out-manceuvred him In the fencino- for advantage of' 
position, and finally compelled him to withdraw, bafiled, to New York. Though 
no fighting of consequence occurred in this period, it is, from the military 
standpoint, one of the most interesting of the entire war. The result was that 
Howe, unwilling to give up his original design, transported his army to the 
mouth of the Delaware by sea, then decided to make his attempt by way of 
Chesapeake Bay, and finally, after great delay, landed his forces at the head of 
that bay, fifty miles from Philadelphia. Washington Interposed his army 
between the enemy and the city and for several weeks delayed Its Inevitable 



122 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

capture. In the Battle of Brandywine the Americans put eleven thousand 
troops in the field against eighteen thousand of the British, and were defeated, 
though by no means routed (September ii, 1777). After Howe had seized 
the city he found it necessary to send part of his army to capture the forts on 
the Delaware River, and this gave the Americans the opportunity of An attack 
with evenly balanced forces. Unfortunately, the battle of Germantown was, by 
reason of a heavy fog, changed into a confused conflict, in which some American 
regiments fired into others, and which ended in the retreat of our forces. 
Washington drew back and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Con- 
gress, on the approach of the enemy, had fled to York. Howe had accomplished 
his immediate object, but at what a cost ! The possession of Philadelphia had 
not appreciably brought nearer the subjugation of the former colonies, while 
the opportunity to co-operate with Burgoyne had been irretrievably lost, and, 
as we have seen, a great and notable triumph had been gained by the Americans 
in his surrender. 

The memorable winter which Washington spent at Valley Forge he often 
described as the darkest of his life. The course of the war had not been 
altogether discouraging, but he had to contend with the inaction of Congress, 
with cabals of envious rivals, and with the wretched lack of supplies and food. 
He writes to Congress that when he wished to draw up his troops to fight, the 
men were unable to stir on account of hunger, that 2898 men were unfit for 
duty because they were barefooted and half naked, that " for seven days past 
there has been little else than a famine in the camp." Meanwhile an intrigue 
to supersede Washington by Gates was on foot and nearly succeeded. The 
whole country also was suffering from the depreciated Continental currency 
and from the lack of power in the general government to lay taxes. What a 
contrast is there between Washington's position at this time and the enthusiasm 
with which the whole country flocked to honor him in the autumn of the first 
year of his Presidency (1789), when he made a journey which was one long 
series of ovations. An idea of the character of these is given in the accom- 
panying picture of his reception at Trenton, where the date on the triumphal 
iarch recalled that famous Christmas night when he outwitted the British. 

But encouragement from abroad was at hand. Perhaps the most im- 
portant result of Burgoyne's surrender was its influence in procuring us the 
French Alliance. Already a strong sympathy had been aroused for the Amer- 
ican cause in France. The nobility were influenced in no small degree by the 
.sentimental and philosophical agitation for ideal liberty which preceded the 
brutal reality of the French Revolution. Lafayette, then a mere boy of 
eighteen, had fitted out a ship with supplies at his own expense, and had 
laid his services at Washington's command. Our Commissioners to France 
— ^John Adams, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin — had labored night and 



CLINTON ABANDONS PHILADELPHIA. 123 

day for the alliance. Franklin, in particular, had, by his shrewd and homely 
wit, his honesty of purpose and his high patriotism, made a profound im- 
pression upon the French people. We read that on one occasion he was 
made to embrace the role of an Apostle of Liberty at an elegant fete where 
" the most beautiful of three hundred women was designated to go and place 
on the philosopher's white locks a crown of laurel, and to give the old man two 
kisses on his cheeks." V^ery "French" this, but not without its significance. 
But after all, the thing which turned the scale with the French Govern- 
ment was the partial success of our armies. France was only too willing, 
under favoring circumstances, to obtain its revenge upon Great Britain for 
many recent defeats and slights. So it was that in the beginning of 1778 the 
independence of the United States was recognized by France and a fleet was 
sent to our assistance. During the winter, m_eanwhile, the thirteen States had 
adopted in Congress articles of confederation and perpetual union, which were 
slowly and hesitatingly ratified by the legislatures of the several States. 

The news of the reinforcements on their way from France, led Sir Henry 
Clinton, who had now succeeded Howe in the chief command of the British, to 
abandon Philadelphia, and mass his forces at New York. This he did in June, 
1778, sending part of the troops by sea and the rest northward, through New 
Jersey. Washington instantly broke camp, followed the enemy, and overtook 
hirn at Monmouth Court House. In the battle which followed the forces were 
equally balanced, each having about fifteen thousand men. The American 
attack was entrusted to Charles Lee, who had been exchanged, and whose 
treachery was not suspected. Again Lee disobeyed orders, and directed a 
retreat at the critical minute of the fight. Had Washington not arrived, the 
retreat would have been a rout ; as it was he turned it into a victory, driving 
the British from their position, and gained the honors of the day. But had it 
not been for Lee, this victory might have easily been made a crushing and final 
defeat for the British army. A court-martial held upon Lee's conduct expelled 
him from the army. Years later he died a disgraced man, though it is only in 
0"r time that the full extent of his dishonor has been understood. 

The scene of the most important military operations now changes from the 
Northern to the Southern States. But before speaking of the campaign which 
ended with Cornwallis's surrender, we may characterize the fighting in the 
North, which went on in the latter half of the war, as desultory and unsystem- 
atic in its nature. The French fleet under Count d'Estaing was unable to 
cross the New York bar on account of the depth of draught of its greatest 
ships ; and for that reason the attempt to capture New York City was aban- 
doned. Its next attempt was to wrest Rhode Island from the British. This 
also was defeated, partly because of a storm at a critical moment, partly 
through a misunderstanding with the American allies. After these two failures, 



124 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 






the French fleet sailed to the West Indies to injure British interests there. The 
assault on the fort at Stony Point by " Mad Anthony " Wayne has importance 
as a brilliant and thrilling episode, and was of 
value in strengthening our position on the Hudson 
River. All along the border the Tories were 
incitinof the Indians to barbarous attacks. The / 
most important and 
deplorable of these at- .y*: 




WASHINGTON RKPROVING LEE AT 

MON.MOUTH. 



tacks were those which ended 
in the massacres at Wyoming 
and Cherry Valley. Reprisals 
for these atrocities were taken 
by General Sullivan's expedi- 
tion, which defeated the Tories 
and Indians combined, near Elmira, with great slaughter. But all these events, 
like the British sudden attacks on the Connecticut ports of New Haven, 



BRITISH CONCESSION REPELLED. 



125 

Slfed par "s'orr"'''' "'"' '^ "' '"^^ ^"'' ''''''''' ^'^^^^^^^ ^P'-^es than 
reiatea parts ol a campaign. 

Cr.^l >'°"''! 'i'° "r '■' ^'^°''" ""'"""^ "P°" ^'^^ fi"^' ^h'-^Pt^-- of the war, that 

sh^h^fT'^ P^l-^-'ly -ceded from her position. Of her own a cord 

he had offered to abrogate the offensive legislation which had provoked The 

se tT:V:r^- .^-V'^rr '"^= *^ P^°^^°-^'^'°" °f P-- -..mission r 
sent to Amenca to acknowledge the principle of taxation by colonial assemblies 




NEGRO VIIXACIE IN GEORGIA. 



was not for a moment considered. The watchword of America was now 



J 26 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Sir Henry Clinton and Cornwallis was, in effect, to begin at the extreme South 
and overpower one State after another until the army held in reserve about 
New York could co-operate with that advancing victoriously from the South. 
Savannah had been captured in 1778, while General Lincoln, who commanded 
our forces, was twice defeated with great loss — once at Brier Creek, in an advance 
upon Savannah, when his lieutenant. General Ashe, was actually routed with very 
heavy loss ; and once when Savannah had been invested by General Lincoln 
himself by land, while the French fleet under d'Estaing besieged the city by sea. 
In a short time Georgia was entirely occupied by the British. They were soon 
reinforced by Sir Henry Clinton in person, with an army, and the united forces 
moved upward into South Carolina with thirteen thousand men. Lincoln was 
driven into Charleston, was there besieged, and (May 12, 1780) was forced to 
surrender not only the city but his entire army. A desultory but brilliant 
guerrilla warfare was carried on at this time by the Southern militia and light 
cavalry under the dashing leadership of Francis Marion, "the Swamp Fox," 
and the partisan, Thomas Sumter. 

These men were privateers on horseback. Familiar with the tangled swamps 
and always well mounted, even though in rags themselves, they were the terror 
of the invaders. At the crack of their rifles the pickets of Cornwallis fled, 
leaving a score of dead behind. The dreaded cavalry of Tarleton often came 
back from their raids with many a saddle emptied by the invisible foes. They 
were here, they were everywhere. Their blows were swift and sure ; their 
vigilance sleepless. Tarleton had been sent by Cornwallis with a force of 
seven hundred cavalry to destroy a patriot force in North Carolina, under Bu- 
ford, which resulted in his utterly destroying about four hundred of the patriots 
at Waxhaw, the affair being more of a massacre than a battle. Thus the name 
of Tarleton came to be hated in the South as that of Benedict Arnold was in 
the North. He was dreaded for his celerity and cruelty. As illustrative of the 
spirit of the Southern colonists, we may be pardoned for the digression of the 
following anecdote. The fighting of Marion and his men was much like that of 
the wild Apaches of the southwest. When hotly pursued by the enemy his 
command would break up into small parties, and these as they were hard pressed 
would subdivide, until nearly every patriot was fleeing alone. There could be 
no successful pursuit, therefore, since the subdivision of the pursuing party 
weakened it too much. 

" We will give fifty pounds to get within reach of the scamp that galloped 
by here, just ahead of us," exclaimed a lieutenant of Tarleton's cavalry, as he 
and three other troopers drew up before a farmer, who was hoeing in the field 
by the roadside. 

The farmer looked up, leaned on his hoe, took off his old hat and mopping 
his forehead with his handkerchief looked at the angry soldier and said : — 



AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE 



127 



*' Fifty pounds is a big lot of money." 

"So it is in these times, but we'll give it to you in gold, if you'll show 

us where we can get ^„..^^£i-:s:}s~-z-:T----- -——-:,. 

a chance at the rebel ; 
did you see him ? " 

"He was all 
alone, was 
he? And 







.iiis?*'' 



m' .-i#M 



;^-'(S| 



..3^^' .tk'iyi 



iW Mil*,/ 



^j^hrn^^ 



•ews> 



\yki *'*-^'' T' 



TAKLETON'S LIEUTENANT AND THE KAKMEK (JACK DAVIS). 

he was mounted on a black horse with a white star in his forehead, and he 
was going like a streak of lightning, wasn't he ?" 



128 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

" That's the fellow!" exclaimed the questioners, hoping they were about 
to get the knowledge they wanted. 

" It looked to me like Jack Davis, though he went by so fast that I couldn't 
get a square look at his face, but he was one of Marion's men, and if I ain't 
greatly mistaken it was Jack Davis himself" 

Then looking up at the four British horsemen, the farmer added, with a 
quizzical expression : — 

"I reckon that ere Jack Davis has hit you chaps pretty hard, ain't he? " 

" Never mind about that," replied the lieutenant ; " what we want to know 
is where we can get a chance at him for just about five minutes." 

The farmer put his cotton handkerchief into his hat, which he now slowly 
replaced, and shook his head : " I don't think he's hiding round here," he said ; 
"when he shot by Jack was going so fast that it didn't look as If he could stop 
under four or five miles. Strangers, I'd like powerful well to earn that fifty 
pounds, but I don't think you'll get a chance to squander it on me." 

After some further questioning, the lieutenant and his men wheeled their 
horses and trotted back toward the main body of Tarleton's cavalry. The 
farmer plied his hoe for several minutes, gradually working his way toward the 
stretch of woods some fifty yards from the roadside. Reaching the margin of 
the field, he stepped in among the trees, hastily took off his clothing, tied it up 
in a bundle, shoved it under a flat rock from beneath which he drew a suit no 
better in quality, but showing a faint semblance to a uniform. Putting it on 
and then plunging still deeper into the woods, he soon reached a dimly-marked 
track, which he followed only a short distance, when a gentle whinney fell upon 
his ear. The next moment he vaulted on the back of a bony but blooded horse, 
marked by a beautiful star in his forehead. The satin skin of the steed shone 
as though he had been traveling hard, and his rider allowed him to walk along 
the path for a couple of miles, when he entered an open space where, near a 
spring, Francis Marion and fully two hundred men were encamped. They were 
eating, smoking and chatting as though no such horror as war was known. 

You understand, of course, that the farmer that leaned on his hoe by the 
roadside and talked to Tarleton's lieutenant about Jack Davis and his exploits 
was Jack Davis himself 

Marion and his men had many stirring adventures. A British officer, sent 
to settle some business with Marion, was asked by him to stay to dinner. 
Marion was always a charming gentleman, and the visitor accepted the 
f'nvitation, but he was astonished to find that the meal consisted only of 
baked sweet potatoes served on bark. No apology was made, but the guest 
could not help asking his host whether that dinner was a specimen of his 
regular bill of fare. "It is," replied Marion, "except that to-day, in honor of 
your presence, we have more than the usual allowance." 



CAMPAIGN IN THE SOUTH. 

North Carolina was now in danger, and it was to be defended 
overrated General Gates, whose 
campaign was marked by every in- 
dication of military incapacity. His ,x '' '-J. 
attacks were Invariably made reck- 
lessly, and his positions were 111- 
:hosen. At 
Camden he ''""■ 



by 



129 
the 




ESCAPE OF BENEDICT ARNOLD. 



^^-^1 






^^-- was utterly and disgracefully 

- — ilBT defeated by Lord Cornwallls 

(August 16, 1780). It seemed 
now as If the British forces could easily hold the territory already won and 
could advance safely Into Virginia. This was, indeed, one of the darke.st 
periods In the history of our war, and even Washington was Inclined to despair. 



I30 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

To add to the feeling of despondency came the news of Benedict Arnold's 
infamous treachery. In the early part of the war he had served, not merely 
with credit but with the highest distinction. Ambitious and passionate by temper, 
he had justly been indignant at the slights put upon him by the promotion over 
his head of several officers who were far less entitled than he to such a reward. 
He had also, perhaps, been treated with undue severity in his trial by court- 
martial on charges relating to his accounts and matters of discipline. No doubt 
he was greatly influenced by his marriage to a lady of great beauty, who was in 
intimate relations with many of the leading Tories. It is more than probable, 
still further, that he believed the cause of American independence could never 
be won. But neither explanations nor fancied wrongs in the least mitigate the 
baseness of his conduct. He deliberately planned to be put in command of 
West Point, with the distinct intention of handing it over to the British in return 
for thirty thousand dollars in money and a command in the British army. It 
was almost an accident that the emissary between Arnold and Clinton, Major 
Andre was captured by Paulding and his rough but incorruptible fellows. 
Andre's personal charm and youth created a feeling of sympathy for him, but it 
cannot be for a moment denied that he was justly tried and executed, in accor- 
dance with the law of nations. Had Arnold's attempt succeeded, it is more 
than likely that the blow dealt our cause would have been fatal. His subse- 
quent service in the British army only deepened the feeling of loathing with which 
his name was heard by Americans ; while even his new allies distrusted and 
despised him, and at one time Cornwallis positively refused to act in concert 
with him. 

A bright and cheering contrast to this dark episode is that of the glorious 
victories at sea won by John Paul Jones, who not only devastated British com- 
merce, but, in a desperately fought naval battle, captured two British men-of-war, 
the "Serapis" and the "Countess of Scarborough," and carried the new 
American flag into foreign ports with the prestige of having swept everything 
before him on the high seas. Here was laid the foundation of that reputation 
for intrepidity and gallantry at sea which the American navy so well sustained 
in our second war with Great Britain. 

As the year 1780 advanced, the campaign in the South began to assume a 
more favorable aspect. General Greene was placed in command of the 
American army and at once began a series of rapid and confusing movements, 
now attacking the enemy in front, now cutting off his communications in the 
rear, but always scheming for the advantage of position, and usually obtaining 
it. He was aided ably by " Light Horse Harry " Lee and by General Morgan. 
Even before his campaign began the British had suffered a serious defeat at 
King's Mountain, just over the line between North and South Carolina, where 
a body of sputhern and western backwoodsmen had cut to pieces and finally 



THE END APPROACHING. 131 

captured a British detachment of twelve hundred men. Greene followed up 
this victory by sending Morgan to attack one wing of Cornwallis's army at 
Cowpens, near by King's Mountain, where again a large body of the enemy 
were captured with a very slight loss on the part of the Americans. Less 
decisive was the battle of Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781), which was 
contested with great persistency and courage by both armies. At the end of 
the day the British held the field, but the position was too perilous for Corn 
wallis to maintain long, and he retreated forthwith to the coast. General Greene 
continued to seize one position after another, driving the scattered bodies of the 
British through South Carolina and finally meeting them face to face at Eutaw 
Springs, where another equally contested battle took place ; in which, as at 
Guilford, the British claimed the honors of the day, but which also resulted i-n 
their ultimately giving away before the Americans and intrenching themselves 
in Charleston. Now, indeed, the British were to move into Virginia, not as 
they had originally planned, but because the more southern States were no 
longer tenable. It seemed almost as if Greene were deliberately driving them 
northward, so that in the end they might lie between two American armies. 
But they made a strong stand at Yorktown, in which a small British army 
under Benedict Arnold was already in possession and had been opposed by 
Lafayette. 

Washington, who had been watching the course of events with the keen 
eye of the master strategist, saw that the time had come for a decisive blow. 
The French fleet was sent to the Chesapeake, and found little difficulty in re- 
ducing the British force and approaching Yorktown by sea. Washington's own 
army had been lying along the Hudson, centered at West Point, ready to meet 
any movement by Sir Henry Clinton's army at New York. Now Washington 
moved southward down the Hudson into the upper part of New Jersey. It was 
universally believed that he was about to attack the British at New York. Even 
his own officers shared this belief. But with a rapidity that seems astonishing, 
and with the utmost skill in handling his forces, Washington led them swiftly 
on, still in the line toward the south, and before Clinton had grasped his inten- 
tion he was well on his way to Virginia. Cornwallis was now assailed both by 
land and hy sea ; he occupied a peninsula, from which he could not escape 
except by forcing a road through Washington's united army of si.xteen thousand 
men. The city of Yorktown was bombarded for three weeks. An American 
officer writes : "The whole peninsula trembles under the incessant thunderings 
of our infernal machines." General Rochambeau who had been placed in com- 
mand of the French forces in America, actively co-operated with Wasliington. 
The meeting of the two great commanders forms the subject of one of our 
illustrations. Good soldier and good general as Cornwallis was, escape was 
impossible. On October 19, 1781, he suffered the humiliation of a formal sur 



132 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



render of his army of over seven thousand men, with two hundred and forty 
cannon, twenty-eight regimental standards, and vast quantities of miUtary stores 
and provisions. When Lord North, the English Minister, heard of the 
surrender, we are told, he paced the floor in deep distress, and cried, "O God, 
it is all over ! " 

And so it was, in fact. The cause of American independence had practi- 
tically been won. Hostilities, it is true, continued in a feeble and half-hearted 
way, and it was not until September, 1 783, that the Treaty of Peace secured by 
John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin was actually signed — a treaty 
which was not only honorable to us, but which, in the frontier boundaries 
adopted, was more advantageous than even our French allies were inclined 
to approve, giving us as it did the territory westward to the Mississippi and 
southward to Florida. Great Britain as a nation had become heartily sick and 
tired of her attempt to coerce her former colonies. As the war progressed she 
had managed to involve herself in hostilities not only with France, but with 
Spain and Holland, and even with the native princes of India. Lord North's 
Ministry fell, the star of the younger Pitt arose into the ascendency, and 
George the Third's attempt to establish a purely personal rule at home and 
abroad was defeated beyond redemption. 

As we read of the scanty recognition given by the American States to the 
soldiers who had fought their battles ; as we learn that it was only Wash- 
ington's commanding influence that restrained these soldiers, half starved and 
half paid, from compelling that recognition from Congress by force ; as we 
perceive how many and serious were the problems of finance and of govern- 
ment distracting the State Legislatures ; as, in short, we see the political 
disintegration and chaotic condition of affairs in the newly born Nation, we 
recognize the fact that the struggle which had just ended so triumphantly was 
but the prelude to another, more peaceful but not less vital, struggle — that for 
the founding of a strong, coherent, and truly National Government. The latter 
struggle began before the Revolution was over and lasted until, in 1787. by 
mutual concession and mutual compromise was formed the Constitution of the 
United States. 



The Eventful Story of Daniel Boone, Fremont, 
and Other Pathfinders and Pioneers. 



DANIEL BOONE. 











l_ 



Boone's name was 
._^ among- the most prominent 
' jnd his life one of the most 
exciting as well as useful of 
i\u: early pioneers. His 
, j name is inclissolubly con- 
nected with Kentucky. 
-J Boone's father emigrated 
;;from Bucks County, Penn- 



J 



sylvania, to North Carolina 



when Daniel was a boy. 
Grown to manhood, here the future pioneer married Rebecca Bryan, their life 
being such as was common in the backwoods settlements of that time. Boone, 
like David Crockett, thought that when he had offered his broad hand and stout 
heart to the girl of his choice he had given her property enough to start with. 
Household furniture was of such simple pattern as could be made with an axe 
and a saw, while clothes were homespun or shaped from the dressed skins of 
animals, and dyed by utilizing the butternut and goldenrod. 

The political troubles in North Carolina, the imposition of illegal fines and 
taxes, no doubt made many settlers besides the Boones anxious to escape to 
some more favored region. 

Boone had a forerunner, who was Dr. Thomas Walker, of Virginia. This 
gentleman, fired by hunters' accounts of Western lands, now the State of Ten- 
nessee, started in company with Colonels Woods, Patton, and Buchanan, and a 
number of hunters and others, on an exploring tour. To them are due the names 
of the Cumberland Mountains, Gap, and River, which with one single exception 
are the only names of purely English origin in earlier Tennessee geography. 

133 



134 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



At that time Tennessee was claimed as part of Virginia, which State made 
grants of its territories. Twelve years later Dr. Walker again passed over 
Clinch and Powell's Rivers and penetrated into what is now Kentucky. Others 
followed in his footsteps as far as Tennessee and some probably into Kentucky. 
That Daniel Boone was with one of these expeditions as far back as 1760 is 
considered to have been proven by the discovery of his name carved, with a date, 
upon an old tree near the stage road between Jonesboro and Blountsville, in the 
valley of Boone's Creek, which is a tributary of the Watauga. The legend 
inscribed on the tree runs thus : " D. BOON cilled a BAR on tree in THE 
year 1760." 




A MUSK-OX lU'M. 



A hunter named John Finley penetrated into Kentucky some time after this 
and brought back marvelous accounts of the hunter's paradise he found there.. 
Boone resolved to go into this new country. The preparations for his departure 
took time. Even homespun and deerskin had to be gotten ready ; the 
necessary money for the maintenance of his family had to be provided ; and when, 
finally, all was ready, Boone shouldered his rifle and started with John Finley, 
John Steuart, Joseph Holden, James Moncey, and William Cool, to traverse a 
mountainous wilderness for several hundred miles. Our pioneer's physique at 
this time was perfect. He is described as being of full size, hardy, robust, and 
sinewy, with mild, hazel eyes. 



A FIRST IVEIV OF KENTUCKY. 



135 



After numerous hardships, which we have not space to chronicle, the 
explorers finally stood on a mountain crest overlooking the fertile valleys 
watered by the Kentucky River. There were herds of buffalo and of deer in 
sight, and evidences of game were everywhere plenty. The country was luxuri- 
ant almost beyond description in its vegetation, and it seemed indeed, as Finley 
had described it, "a hunter's paradise." From the cane-brakes in the river 
bottoms to the forest trees that crowned the wooded hills, it appeared to be a 
land of peace and plenty. And yet this very territory had among the Indians a 




DANIEL BOONE AND HIS BROTHER IN " HUNTERS' I'AKALiISE." 



name of ominous import ; it was called " The dark and bloody ground." No 
one tribe made these valleys their home, although they were claimed by the 
Cherokees ; but both Cherokee, Shawnee, and Chickasaw bands occasionally 
hunted over them, and they were the scene of many bloody feuds and forest 
encounters. 

Boone and his party encamped within view of all this beauty and wealth 
of nature, in a rock-cleft over which had fallen a giant tree. This camp from 
time to lime they improved and enlarged, as it remained their headquarters 
during the succeeding summer and autumn. In all that time they roamed and 



136 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

hunted freely, finding abundance of game, exploring the country thoroughly, but 
meeting with none of the red men. 

In the autumn of 1 760 Boone and John Steuart one day left their companions 
and plunged into the forest for a little longer excursion than usual. One cannot 
but imagine what the scene must have been at that season of the year in the 
forest primeval. The rich luxuriance of vegetable life and the plentiful supply 
of game must have appealed strongly to the feelings of these hunters, whose 
sense of security had not yet been disturbed by any encounters. Of all this 
domain they had literally been in peaceful possession until then. Suddenly the 
feeling of safety was rudely dissipated by the appearance of a band of Indians, 
who surprised Boone and Steuart so completely that resistance was out of the 
question, and they were taken prisoners. 

On the seventh night after the capture the Indians encamped in a cane-brake 
and built their fire. Perhaps the fatigue of a long march made them abate 
something of their customary caution ; at all events, as they slept by the fire, 
Boone, who was always on the alert, saw his opportunity to extricate himself 
from among them and escape. Refusing, however, to abandon his companion, 
although knowing that the risk of waking him was very great, as the slightest 
noise would alarm their captors, he went to where Steuart was sleeping, and 
takiiig hold of him, succeeded in rousing him without noise. By morning the 
hunters were far away on their return to camp, where they arrived without being 
overtaken, only to find that Finley and the others had disappeared. They were 
never heard of again. 

Early in the next year Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, arrived with a 
companion. On their approach to camp they were sharply challenged, not 
being at once recognized ; but the meeting was naturally one of great rejoicing 
when the hermits found who their visitors were. Now, for the first time during 
his long banishment from home, Boone heard from his family, received messages 
from his wife, and learned how his boys were progressing with the little farm. 
It was not long after the arrival of Squire Boone that Boone and Steuart were 
again attacked by the Indians, and this time Steuart was killed. Following this, 
Squire Boone's companion strayed from camp and never returned. That left 
the two brothers entirely alone, and as ammunition was running low the later 
comer decided to return home and get the necessary supplies. We hardly know 
which to admire most, the courage of the man who would face the perils of that 
return journey by himself, or the fortitude of the other who remained alone in 
that wild country, infested by his enemies, where for three months he constantly 
shifted his camp to avoid discovery. From his own account of this part of his 
life we find, however, that those days which he passed alone in the wild woods 
of Kentucky, depending upon his own skill and vigilance, eluding his enemies 
and tracking his game, were far from being the least pleasant in his life. After 



BOONE'S ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPERIENCE. 



^57 



three months Squire Boone returned, and together the brothers pursued 
their calHng once more, until finally, with a very thorough knowledge of the 
country and its capabilities, Daniel Boone returned to his family in North Caro- 
lina. 

Boone's account of what he had seen, of the game, the fertility of the 
country, the beauty of the mountains and rivers, and of all that had so 
impressed his own imagination, is said to have set North Carolina on fire. 




I'KATll i.>l' JOHN slEUAki. buu Mi :j t.,inwUL Lu.Ml A..1 jj,. 

And now, while the discoverer is preparing for still another start, we may 

explain the purpose of these several expeditions. As we have said, Kentucky, 

that is, the southern part of it, — nominally belonged to the Cherokee Indians, 
It was claimed by Virginia and North Carolina and afterwards by Tennessee. 
A noted character of the day. Colonel Henderson, with several other gendemen, 
concerted a scheme for the purchase of all that country from the Cherokees and 
the founding of an independent State or Republic, which should be called 
Transylvania. There is hardly a question that Boone's first expedition to 



1 38 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Kentucky and long sojourn there was undertaken in the employ of Colonel 
Henderson and his Land Company. 

The second journey was unquestionably for the purpose of negotiating with 
the Cherokees, and making all the preliminary arrangements for the purchase 
of the tract. If his report of the nature of the land induced the formation of the 
Company, he was no less successful in conducting the second part of the business 
When he had arranged terms with the Cherokees, Colonel Henderson joined him 
on the Watauga to conclude the bargain. There he met the Indians in solemn 
conclave, took part in their council, smoked the pipe, and paid in merchandise the 
purchase-money for Kentucky, receiving from the Indians a deed for the same. 

Colonization was next in order, and Boone undertook with a party to open 
a road from the Holston River to the Kentucky River, and to erect stations or 
forts. Gathering a party for the purpose, on April ist they succeeded, after a 
laborious march through the wilderness, in the course of which they lost several 
men, in arriving at the spot where Boonesborough now stands. There they 
tixed their camp and built the foundations for a fort. Near this place was a 
salt lick. A few days after the commencement of the fort another of the party 
was killed during an attack by Indians, but after that there was no disturbance 
for some time. This was the beginning of colonization in Kentucky. It was, of 
course, commenced under the impression that the Cherokee purchase was good, 
but the validity of the deed was at once denied by the Governor of North 
Carolina and also by the Government of Virginia as well as that of Tennessee. 
Each State, however, granted to the Land Company large tracts of land on the 
same territory, so that while unsuccessful in founding an independent Republic, 
Colonel Henderson and his associates became very wealthy. For a long time 
those who were doing the actual work on the frontier, bearing the hardships and 
the brunt of battle, did not know that any question had been raised as to the 
validity of the title under the Indian purchase, and still supposed themselves to 
be engaged in the founding of a Commonwealth. 

A KENTUCKY FORT. 

A fort at that day meant a structure of a very primitive kind. Butler, in 
his History of Kentucky, says: "A fort in those times consisted of pieces of 
timber sharpened at the ends and firmly lodged in the ground. Rows of these 
pickets enclosed the desired space which embraced the cabins of the inhabitants. 
One or more block houses, of superior care and strength, commanding the sides 
of the ditch, completed the fortifications or stations, as they were called. 
Generally, the sides of the interior cabins formed the sides of the fort." 

About thirty or forty new settlers came to Boonesborough with Colonel 
Henderson, to whom Boone had written. So far the new-comers were all men. 
Before long, however, the leader returned for his own familv, and others, to the 



INDIAN CAPTURES. 139 

number of twenty-six men, four women, and half a dozen boys and girls, 
accompanied him back through the Cumberland Gap. Before arriving at 
Boonesborough the little caravan separated, part of them settling at another 
point, where they built a fort of their own. Mrs. Boone and her daughters v/ere 
the first white women to arrive at Boonesborough to settle there. Other 
settlers followed with new colonies, and these began to make Kentucky their 
home. One of the stations was called Harrod's Old Cabin ; another was Logan. 
Among the men of prominence were Simon Kenton, John Floyd, Colonel 
Richard Callaway, and other names that appear again and again in the early 
annals of the country. 

INDIAN CAPTURES. 

At the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, the Indians, excited by the 
British, greatly disturbed and harassed the new settlers, and many of the latter, 
becoming frightened or discouraged, abandoned the promised land and went 
back to North Carolina. In 1775 the settlers still kept their faith in the Chero- 
kee purchase, and holding this view, took leases from the Company, established 
courts of justice, and, through a Convention or Congress which met at Boones- 
borough made laws and provided for a militia organization. This Convention 
was the first of its kind ever held in the West. 

Among the exciting episodes of the first years in Kentucky was the capture 
of one of Boone's daughters and two of Callaway's daughters by the Indians. 
The eldest of these girls was about twenty and the youngest fourteen years of 
age. They were sitting in a canoe under the trees which overhung the opposite 
bank of the river. There they were surprised by the Indians and taken away 
before their friends at the Fort discovered their peril. This happened so near 
nightfall that pursuit was impossible, but in the morning Boone and Floyd 
started in pursuit. They surprised the Indians that day as they halted to cook, 
and killing one or two, drove the rest away. Feeling their own force too weak 
for pursuit, they were glad to return with the almost heart-broken girls. The 
account of this, affording, as it did, evidence of the renewed hostility of the 
savages, induced nearly three hundred people to return to their homes during 
the next few months. 

We cannot follow the fluctuating fortunes of the colonists or eive a detailed 
account, interesting as that would be, of the incidents of border warfare. For a 
long time Kentucky was not recognized as a free State, and its people not 
acknowledged as citizens. Virginia still made claim to the territory, and yet 
when General George Clark was sent as a Representative to the Virginia House 
his claim was rejected by that party. Failing to receive recognition, Clark 
labored to obtain the independence of Kentucky as a State. This he finally suc- 
ceeded in doing, in opposition to Colonel Henderson and others. The formation 
of Kentucky politically was first as a county of Virginia. It was the bulwark of 



I40 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Virginia during the Indian troubles, and General Clark was nicknamed the 
Hannibal of the West. In 1786 the Virginia Legislature enacted the necessary 
provisions for permitting Kentucky to assume the position of a separate State 
on condition that the United States would admit her to the sisterhood, which was 
accomplished June i, 1792. 

Daniel Boone lost all his Kentucky property through carelessness or ignor- 
ance of legal forms, and after the prosperity and growth of the new State was 
fully assured he went to Virginia to begin life over again. There he stayed until 
the accounts brought from Missouri of the rich land and good hunting there 
aroused his pioneer spirit once more, and he again emigrated to settle in Spanish 
territory. He made his home in the Femme Osage district, over which, before 
long, he became military commander with a commission from the Spanish gover- 
nor. Upon the acquisition of Missouri by the United States our backwoodsman 
again found himself stripped of his property. The Government under which he 
had been lately serving had presented him with ten thousand arpents of land (an 
arpent is eighty-five one-hundredths of an acre) to which he had neglected to 
secure or record his title. Through the intervention of the Kentucky Legisla- 
ture in the Congress of the United States by a strong memorial, Boone was 
finally put in legal possession of the land. 

Only once did the great Kentucky pioneer return to the country that he 
had explored and settled, where, according to his own account, he had lost so 
much. He says : " I may say that I have verified the words of the old Indian 
who signed Colonel Henderson's deed. Taking me by the hand at the delivery 
thereof ' Brother,' he said, 'we have given you a fine land, but I believe you will 
have much difficulty in settling it.' My footsteps have often been marked by 
blood, and therefore I can truly subscribe to its original name. Two darling sons 
and a brother have I lost by savage hands, which have also taken from me forty 
valuable horses and abundance of catde. Many dark and sleepless nights have 
1 been a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, 
scorched by the summer's sun and pinched by the winter's cold, an instrument to 
settle the wilderness." 

Boone's death occurred in 1820 at his home in Missouri. He was then in 
the eighty-sixth year of his age. 

DAVID CROCKETT. 

David Crockett, who died the last of those who were defenders of the Alamo 
in Texas, is one of the picturesque figures in American history. David, or, as he 
is familiarly called, " Davy " Crockett was born in 1786, of Irish-American parent- 
age. His boyhood was spent in his father's cabin in Tennessee, from which he 
ran away, and, after various vicissitudes, took service with a Quaker, where he 
remained until his marriage. Then, after several years of hardship, he moved to 



DAVID CROCKETT. 



141 



the Elk River country, and when the Creek War broke out he was Hving near 
Winchester, Tennessee. He became well known as an Indian fighter, one of 
his earliest services being in 1813, when at Beatty's Spring he was chosen by his 
captain to act as a scout with Major Gibson to go into the Creek country and re- 
connoitre. On the first day of his journey he lost the Major, but pushed on 
with five companions for sixty-five miles into the enemy's country, bringing back 
news of an important nature. The garrison was hastily fortified and General 




EXl-LORING THE ECHO RIVER, MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY. 

Jackson summoned by express. We will not attempt to follow the details of this 
war. Crockett saw much vigorous fighting, was present at the burning of an 
Indian village (of the horrors of which he tells in his autobiography without 
the slightest apparent compunction), acted with Major Russell's "spies," and 
when he returned to his Tennessee home had quite a reputation as an bidian 
fighter. 

After the Creek War Crockett was one of those who tried to bring order out 



142 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

of the chaotic state in which Tennessee society was at that time. His home was 
among a reckless set, and the organization of a temporary government was 
imperative. Upon its formation Crockett was made Magistrate. Afterwards he 
became a member of the Legislature, although one of his biographers states 
that at this time he could hardly read a newspaper. Later in life he showed the 
acquisition of more "book learning," and the best account of his life and adven- 
tures is found in the autobiography which "he left. His early success as a politi- 
cian was due principally to his qualities of humor, good story-telling, hard sense, 
and true marksmanship with a rifle, a combination that is sure to win favor among 
backwoodsmen. 

Crockett served in Congress two terms, and won national reputation and 
popularity as one of the "half horse, half alligator" class. His career in Wash- 
ington was brought to an end by his quarrel with General Jackson, to whose 
party he had at first been an adherent. He then cast his lot with those who were 
battling for Texan independence, and died, as we have already noticed, with 
Travis and Bowie, at the Alamo. 

Equally important with the exploration, settlement, and conquest of Ken- 
tucky and the Southwest were the expeditions of those who found a path through 
the crreat mountain divide and were the forerunners of those that should after- 
wards settle the Pacific slope. 

LEWIS AND CLARK. 

Among the earliest explorers of Rocky Mountain fame were Lewis and 
Clark, who, in 1S04, were sent to command the expedition in search of the head- 
waters of the Columbia River and to mark its course. General Clark was the 
brother of George R. Clark, of whom mention has been made in an earlier part 
of this chapter. The family were from Virginia, but had become identified with 
the early history of Kentucky, and William Clark was known from his youth as 
an Indian fighter. At eighteen years of age he was made ensign, and in 1 792 
became a lieutenant of infantry, being appointed in the following year adjutant 
and quartermaster. He served on the frontier until 1 796, when he resigned 
on account of ill health and went to reside in St. Louis. Seven years later 
President Jefferson offered him the rank of second lieutenant of artillery, to 
assume with Merriwether Lewis the command of the exploring expedition to the 
Columbia River. 

Lieutenant Lewis was also a Virginian, whose first service had been in 
quelling the whiskey insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, in 1794. Afterward 
entering the regular army he rose to the rank of captain, was then private 
secretary to President Jefferson, and so won the President's respect and favor 
by his superior qualities of mind that he was appointed to the scientific and 
general command of the expedition of which we have just spoken. 



THE SOUTH PASS. 



143 



Lewis and Clark left St. Louis in the summer of 1803. They ericamped for 
the winter on the bank of the Mississippi opposite the mouth of the Missouri 
River. The company included nine Kentuckians, who were used to Indian ways 
and frontier life, 
fourteen soldiers, 
two Canadian 
boatmen, an inter- 
preter, a hunter, 
and negro boat- 
man. Besides this, 
a corporal and 
guard with nine 
boatmen, were en- 
gaged to accom- 
pany the expedi- 
tion as far as the 
territory of the 
Mandans. 

The party 
carried with it the 
usual goods lor 
trading; with the 
Indians, lookinsf 
glasses, beads, 
trinkets, hatchets, 
etc., and such pro- 
vision as were 
necessary for the 
sustenance of its 
members. While 
the greater part of 
the command em- 
barked in a fleet 
of three larg-e 
canoes, the hun- 
ters and pack- 
horses paralleled 
their course along the shore. 




THE FAR WEbT — YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



In this way, in the spring of 1804, the ascent 
of the Mississippi was commenced. In June the country of the Osages was 
reached, then the lands occupied by the Ottawa tribes, and finally, in the 
fall, the hunting grounds of the Sioux- Here the leaders of the expedition 



144 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

ordered cabins to be constructed, and camped for the winter among the Man- 
dans, in latitude 27° 21' north. They found in that country plenty of game, 
buffalo and deer being abundant ; but the weather was intensely cold and the 
expedition was hardly prepared for the severity of the climate, so that its mem- 
bers suffered greatly. 

In April a fresh start was made and they ascended the Missouri, reaching the 
great falls by June. Here they named the tributary waters and ascended the 
Northernmost, which they called the Jefferson River, until further navigation 
was impossible ; then Captain Lewis with three companions left the expedi- 
tion in camp and started out on foot toward the mountains, in search of the 
friendly Shoshone Indians, from whom he expected assistance in his projected 
journey across the mountains. 

A RIVER WHICH RAN TO THE WEST. 

On the twelfth of August he discovered the source of the Jefferson River in 
a defile of the Rocky Mountains and crossed the dividing ridge, upon the other 
side of which his eyes were gladdened by the discovery of a small rivulet which 
flowed toward the west. Here was proof irrefutable " that the great backbone 
of earth" had been passed. The intrepid explorer saw with joy that this little 
stream danced out toward the setting sun — toward the Pacific Ocean. Meeting 
a force of Shoshones and persuading them to accompany him on his return to 
the main body of the expedition, Captain Lewis sought his companions once 
more. Captain Clark then went forward to determine their future course, and 
coming to the river which his companion had discovered he called it the 
Lewis River. 

A number of Indian horses were procured from their red-skinned friends 
and the explorers pushed on to the broad plains of the western slope. The latter 
part of their progress in the mountains had been slow and painful, because of the 
early fall of snow, but the plains presented all the charm of early autumn. In 
October the Kaskaskia River was reached, and leaving the horses and whatever 
baggage could be dispensed with in charge of the Indians, the command embarked 
in canoes and descended to the Columbia River, upon the south bank of which, 
four hundred miles from their starting point, they passed the second winter. 
Much of the return journey was a fight with hostile Indians, and the way was 
much more difficult than it had been found while advancing toward the West. 
Lewis was wounded before reaching home, by the accidental discharge of a gun 
in the hands of one of his force. 

Finally, after an absence of two years, the expedition returned, the leaders 
reachino- Washington while Congress was in session, and erants of land were 
immediately made to them and to their subordinates. Captain Lewis was re- 
warded also with the governorship of Missouri. Clark was appointed briga- 



146 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



dier general for the territory of upper Louisiana, and in 181 3 was appointed gov- 
ernor of Missouri, holding office till that territory became a state, after which he 
retired into private Hfe till 1S22, when Mr. Monroe made him Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, which office he successfully filled imtil his death. Lewis's end 
was a sad one. An inherited tendency to melancholia developed itself and 
led him, after a long and useful career, to take his own life. 

Of later, though not less 
fame, were the successors of 
Lewis and Clark in the explora- 
tion of the Rocky Mountains and 
;he plains beyond. We refer to 
General Fremont and his famous 
scout, Kit Carson. It may be 
said without exago-eration that in 
all human probability the reputa- 
tion achieved by the young lieu- 
tenant and his subordinate in the 
South Pass was based upon a 
love adventure. 

When in 1S40 General Fre- 
mont was a second lieutenant, 
he was called to V\^ashington, 
and while there met and fell in 
love with Jessie, the daughter of 
Thomas H. Benton. Colonel 
Benton liked the young Lieu- 
tenant, but thought that a fifteen- 
year-old daughter was altogether 
toovouncj to contract an enofa^je- 
ment, and failing in other efforts, 
he is thought to have procured 
the imperative order from the 
War Department which sent 
Fremont to explore the Rocky 
Mountains. Colonel Benton's 
influence at that time was paramount in Washington. The duty assigned was 
finished by Lieutenant Fremont, perhaps more speedily than would have been 
the case under other circumstances, and upon his return the lovers were secretly 
married ; but the love for adventure and exploration had been fully kindled, and 
a plan was forming in the brain of the future Pathfinder to explore the whole 
Western country, to study its topography, facilities, etc. As a part of this 




IIIL lAK Whbl- 



IDAHO \ND MJNTANA 



GENERAL FREMONT. 



14: 



general scheme he was ordered, at his own request, to make a geographical 
survey of the Rocky Mountains, especially the South Pass. 

While engaged in this work the explorer met Kit Carson, a professional 
hunter and trapper, 
who had 



been for 
eight years regular 
hunter for Bent's Fort. 
Fremont at once en- 
craeed him as hunter 
and scout. Many of 
those who are inclined 
to detract from the 
reputation belonging 
to the former have 
averred that the credit 
of the discoveries 
made was mainly due 
to Carson ; but a 
knowledge of the fact 




that barometric obser- 
vations, topographical 
data, and other scien- 
tific records beyond 
Carson's capacity 
were made, and not 
only so, but excited 
the admiration and at- 
tention of foreign as 
well as American au- 
thorities, shows such 
a charsje to be with- 
out foundation. Yet 
the fame of the sub- 
sequent candidate for 
the Presidency will 
always be linked with 
that of the humbler 
companion whose 
knowledge of the frontier made so much success possible. 

Carson was sent to Washington as a bearer of dispatches in 1847, and there 
received an appointment as lieutenant in the United States Rifle Corps. He was 



<-<-L^ 



SHAWAN5H, THE UTE CHIEF WHO WAS SENT TO WASHINGTON IN 
WITH THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 



1863 TO TREAT 



148 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



afterward appointed Indian agent, a post for which his experience admirably fitted 
him. 

Of other Western explorers, discoverers, and pioneers we have not space 
to speak in this chapter. We have sketched the lives and deeds of a few of the 
more prominent only, indicating how the West was opened for the march of the 
millions that have come after. We honor the brave men who risked everything 
and sacrificed everything to open the way, and cannot but believe, in the words 
of Daniel Boone, that they were "instruments to settle the wilderness," 





VOLCANIC REEFS OF ARIZONA. 



The Burning of Washington City and the 
Story of the War of 1812. 




K 



By their first war with Great Britain our 
forefathers asserted and maintained their right 
to independent national existence ; by their 
second war with Great Britain they claimed and 
obtained equal consideration in international 
affairs. The War of 1812 was not based on a 
single cause ; it was rather undertaken from 
mixed motives — partly political, partly commer= 
cial, partly patriotic. It was always unpopular 
with a great number of the American people ; 
it was far from logical in some of its positions ; 
it was perhaps precipitated by party clamor. 
But, despite all these facts, it remains true that 
this war established once for all the position of 
the United States as an equal power among the 
powers. 

The cause of the War of 181 2, which ap- 
pealed most strongly to the patriotic feelings of 
the common people (though the violation of the principle of the rights of neu- 
trals was the prime cause), was unquestionably the impressment by Great Britain 
of sailors from American ships. No doubt great numbers of English sailors 
did desert from their naval vessels and take refuge in the easier service and 
better treatment of the American merchant ships. Great Britain was strain- 
ing every nerve to strengthen her already powerful navy, and the press-gang 
was constantly at work in English sea-ports. Once on board a British man-of- 
war, the impressed sailor was subject to overwork, bad rations, and the lash. 
That British sailors fought as gallantly as they did under this regime will always 
remain a wonder. But it is certain that they deserted in considerable numbers, 

149 




ANDREW JACKSON, THE HERO OF int. WAR 
OF 1812. 



I50 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

and that they found in the rapidly-growing- commercial prosperity of our carry- 
ing trade a tempting chance of employment. Now, Great Britain, with a large 
contempt for the naval weakness of the United States, assumed, rather than 
claimed, the right to stop our merchant vessels on the high seas, to examine the 
crews, and to claim as her own any British sailors among them. This was bad 
enough in itself, but the way in which the search was carried out was worse 
Every form of insolence and overbearing was exhibited. The pretense of claim 
ing British deserters covered what was sometimes barefaced and outrageout 
kidnaping of Americans. The British officers went so far as to lay the burden of ' 
proof of nationality in each case upon the sailor himself; if he were without 
papers proving his identity he was at once assumed to be a British subject. To 
such an extent was this insult to our flag carried that our Government had the 
record of about forty-five hundred cases of impressment from our ships betAveen 
the years of 1S03 and 1810; and when the War of 181 2 broke out the number 
of American sailors serving against their will in British war vessels was variously 
computed to be from six to fourteen thousand. It is even recorded that in some 
cases American ships were obliged to return home in the middle of their voyages 
because their crews had been so diminished in number by the seizures made by 
British ofificers that they were too short-handed to proceed. In not a few cases 
these depredations led to bloodshed. The greatest outrage of all, and one which 
stirred the blood of Americans to the fighting point, was the capture of an Ameri- 
can war vessel, the "Chesapeake," by the British man-of-war, the "Leopard." 
The latter was by far the more powerful vessel, and the " Chesapeake " was quite 
unprepared for action ; nevertheless, her commander refused to accede to a 
demand that his crew be overhauled in search for British deserters. Thereupon 
the "Leopard" poured broadside after broadside into her until the flag was 
struck. Three Americans were killed and eighteen wounded ; four were taken 
away as alleged deserters; of these, three were afterwards returned, while in 
one case the charge was satisfactorily proved and the man was hanged. The 
whole affair was without the slightest justification under the law of nations and 
was in itself ample ground for war. Great Britain, however, in a quite ungrace- 
ful and tardy way, apologized and offered reparation. This incident took place 
six years before the actual declaration of war. But the outrage rankled all that 
time, and nothing did more to fan the anti-British feeling which was already so 
strong in the rank and file, especially in the Democratic (or, as it was often called 
then, Republican) party. It was such deeds as this that led Henry Clay to 
exclaim, " Not content with seizing upon all our property which falls within 
her rapacious grasp, the personal rights of our countrymen — rights which must 
forever be sacred — are trampled on and violated by the impressment of our 
seamen. What are we to gain by war? What are we not to lose by peace? 
Commerce, character, a nation's best treasure, honor ! " 



"PAPER BLOCKADES." 



151 



The attack on American commerce was also a serious danger to peace. In 
the early years of the century Great Britain was at war not only with France, 
but with other European countries. Both Great Britain and France adopted in 
practice the most extreme theories of non-intercourse between neutral and 
hostile nations. It was the era of "paper blockades." In 1806 England, for 
instance, declared that eight hundred miles of the European coast were to be 




MLW OF A COTTON-CHUTE. 



considered blockaded, whereupon Napoleon, not to be outdone, declared the 
entire Islands of Great Britain to be under blockade. Up to a certain point the 
interruption of the neutral trade relations between the countries of Europe was 
to the commercial advantage of America. Our carrying trade grew and pros- 
pered wonderfully. Much of this trade consisted in taking goods from the colo- 
nies of European nations, bringing them to the United States, then trans-ship- 
ping them and conveying them to the parent nation. This was allowable under 



1^2 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

the international law of the time, although the direct carrj'ing of goods by the 
neutral ship from the colony to the parent nation (the latter, of course, being at 
war) was forbidden. But by her famous "Orders in Council " Great Britain ab- 
solutely forbade this system of trans-shipment as to nations with whom she was 
at war. American vessels engaged in this form of trade were seized and con- 
demned by English prize courts. Naturally, France followed Great Britain's 
example and even went further. Our merchants, who had actually been earning 
double freights under the old system, now found that their commerce was wofully 
restricted. At first it was thought that the unfair restriction might be punished 
by retaliatory measures, and a quite illogical analogy was drawn from the effect 
produced on Great Britain before the Revolution by the refusal of the colonies 
to receive goods on which a tax had been imposed. So President Jefferson's 
Administration resorted to the most unwise measure that could be thought of — 
an absolute embargo on our own ships. This measure was passed in 1807, and 
its immediate result was to reduce the exports of the country from nearly fifty 
million dollars' worth to nine million dollars' worth in a single year. This was 
evidently anything but profitable, and the act was changed so as to forbid only 
commercial intercourse with Great Britain and France and their colonies, with a 
proviso that the law should be abandoned as regards either of these countries 
which should repeal its objectionable decrees. The French Government moved 
in the matter first, but only conditionally. Our non-intercourse act, however, 
was after iSio in force only against Great Britain. That our claims of wrong 
were equally or nearly equally as great against France in this matter cannot be 
doubted. But the popular feeling was stronger again.st Great Britain ; a war 
with England was popular with the mass of the Democrats ; and it was the 
refusal of England to finally accept our conditions which led to the declaration 
of war. By a curious chain of circumstances it happened, however, that between 
the time when Congress declared war (June 18, 181 2) and the date when the 
news of this declaration was received in England, the latter country had already 
revoked her famous "orders in council." In point of fact, President Madison 
was very reluctant to declare war, though the Federalists always took great 
pleasure in speaking of this as " Mr. Madison's war." The Federalists through- 
out considered the war unnecessary and the result of partisan feeling and un- 
reasonable prejudice. 

It is peculiarly grateful to American pride that this war, undertaken in 
defense of our maritime interests and to uphold the honor of our flag upon 
the hio-h seas, resulted in a series of naval victories brilliant in the extreme. It 
was not, indeed, at first thought that this would be chiefly a naval war. Presi- 
dent Madison was at one time greatly inclined to keep strictly in port our war 
vessels; but, happily, other counsels prevailed. The disparity between the Amer- 
ican and British navies was certainly disheartening. The United States had 



OUR NAVAL GLORY IN THIS WAR. 



153 



seven or eight frigates and a few sloops, brigs, and gunboats, while the sails of 
England's navy whitened every sea, and her ships certainly outnumbered ours 
by fifty to one. On the other hand, her hands were tied to a great extent by the 
European wars of magnitude in which she was involved. She had to defend her 
commerce from formidable enemies in many seas, and could give but a small 
part of her naval strength to the new foe. That this new foe was despised by 




LOADING A COTTON STEAMER. 



the great power which claimed, not without reason, to be the mistress of the seas 
was not unnatural. But soon we find a lament raised in Parliament about the 
reverses, " which English officers and English sailors had not before been used 
to, and that from such a contemptible navy as that of America had always been 
held." The fact is that the restriction of our commerce had made it possible for 
our navy officers to take their pick of a remarkably fine body of native American 
seamen, naturally brave and intelligent, and thoroughly well trained in all sea- 



1 54 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



manlike experiences. These men were in many instances filled with a spirit of 
resentment at British insolence, having either themselves been the victims of the 
aggressions which we have described, or having seen their friends compelled to 
submit to these insolent acts. The very smallness of our navy, too, was in a 
measure its strength ; the competition for active service among those bearing 
commissions was great, and there was never any trouble in finding officers of 
proved sagacity and courage. 

At the outset, however, the policy determined on by the Administration was 
not one of naval aesfression. It was decided to attack Ensrland from her 
Canadian colonies. This plan of campaign, however reasonable it might seem 
to a strategist, failed wretchedly in e.xecution. The first year of tlie war, so far 
as regards the land campaigns, showed nothing but reverses and fiascoes. 
There was a long and thinly settled border country, in which our slender forces 
struggled to hold their own against the barbarous Indian onslaughts, making 
futile expeditions across the border into Canada and resisting with some success 
the similar expeditions by the Canadian troops. It was one of the complaints 
which led to the war that the Indian tribes had been incited against our settlers 
by the Canadian authorities and had been promised aid from Canada. It is 
certain that after war was declared English officers not only employed Indians as 
their allies, but in some instances, at least, paid bounties for the scalps of 
American settlers. The Indian war planned by Tecumseh had just been put 
down by General, afterward President, Harrison. No doubt Tecumseh was a 
man of more elevated ambition and more humane instincts than one often finds in 
an Indian chief. His hope to unite the tribes and to drive the whites out of his 
country has a certain nobility of purpose and breadth of view. But this scheme 
had failed, and the Indian warriors, still inflamed for war, were only too eager to 
assist the Canadian forces in a desultory but bloody border war. The strength 
of our campaign against Canada was dissipated in an attempt to hold Fort 
Wayne, Fort Harrison, and other garrisons against Indian attacks. Still more 
disappointing was the complete failure of the attempt, under the command of 
General Hull, to advance from Detroit as an outpost, into Canada. He was 
easily driven back to Detroit, and when the nation was confidently waiting to 
hear of a bold defense of that place it was startled by the news of Hull's surrender 
without firing a gun, and under circumstances which seemed to indicate either 
cowardice or treachery. Hull was, in fact, court-martialed, condemned to death, 
and only pardoned on account of his services in the war of 1776. 

The mortification that followed the land campaign of 181 2 was forgotten in 
joy at the splendid naval victories of that year. Pre-eminent among these was 
the famous sea-duel between the frigates *• Constitution " and "Guerriere." 
Every one knows of the glory of " Old Ironsides," and this, though the greatest, 
was only one of many victories by which the name of the " Constitution " 



THE "CONSTITUTION" AND THE "GUERRIERE." 



155 



became the most famed and beloved of all that have been associated with Amer- 
ican ships. She was a fine frigate, carrying forty-four guns, and though English 
journals had ridiculed her as " a bunch 
of pine boards under a bit of striped 
bunting," it was not long before they 
were busily engaged in trjing to prove 
chat she was too large a vessel to be prop- 
erly called a frigate, and that she greatly 
out-classed her opponent in metal and . 



I'' 



^ 



— ■.-ii'fe;"?;-^^???^ ' 



i'3%S> 




,'$*'i.,/ 



J. 



BLRMNG Ui WASHINGTON. 

men. It is true that the 
" Constitution " carried six 
more guns and a few more 
men than the " Guerriere," 
but, all allowances being 
made, her victory was yet 
a naval triumph of the first 
magnitude. Captain Isaac 
Hull, who commanded her, 
had just before the engage- 
ment proved his superior 
seamanship by escaping from a whole squadron of British vessels, out-sailing 
and out-manoeuvring them at every point It was on August 19 when he 



I 

1^6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

descried the " Guerriere." Both vessels at once cleared for action and 
came together with the greatest eagerness on both sides for the engagement. 
Though the batde lasted but half an hour, it was one of the hottest in naval 
annals. At one time the " Constitution " was on fire, and both ships were soon 
seriously crippled by injury to their spars. Attempts to board each other were 
thwarted on both sides by the close fire of small arms. Here, as in later sea- 
fights of this war, the accuracy and skill of the American gunners were some 
thingr marvelous. At the end of half an hour the "Guerriere" had lost both 
mainmast and foremast and floated helplessly in the open sea. Her surrender 
was no discredit to her officers, as she was almost in a sinking condition. It was 
hopeless to attempt to tow her into port, and Captain Hull transferred his 
prisoners to his own vessel and set fire to his prize. In the fight the American 
frioate had only seven men killed and an equal number wounded, while the 
British vessel had as many as seventy-nine men killed or wounded. The con- 
duct of the American seamen was throughout gallant in the highest degree. 
Captain Hull put it on record that " From the smallest boy in the ship to the 
oldest seaman not a look of fear was seen. They all went into action giving 
three cheers and requesting to be laid close alongside the enemy." The effect 
of this victory in both America and England was extraordinary. English papers 
long refused to believe in the possibility of the well-proved facts, while in America 
the whole country joined in a triumphal shout of joy, and loaded well-deserved 
honors on vessel, captain, officers, and men. 

The chao-rin of the English public at the unexpected result of this sea battle 
was chano-ed to amazement when one after another there followed no less than 
six combats of the same duel-like character, in which the American vessels were 
invariably victorious. The first was between our sloop, the "Wasp," and the 
Eno-lish brio-, the " Frolic," which was convoying a fleet of merchantmen. The 
fight was one of the most desperate in the war ; the two ships were brought so 
close together that their gunners could touch the sides of the opposing vessels 
with their rammers. Broadside after broadside was poured into the " Frolic " by 
the " Wasp," which obtained the superior position, but her sailors, unable to 
await the victory which was sure to come from the continued raking of the 
enemy's vessel, rushed upon her decks without orders and soon overpowered 
her. Aeain the British loss in killed and wounded was large ; that of the Ameri- 
cans very small. It in no wise detracted from the glory of this victory that both 
victor and prize were soon captured by a British man-of-war of immensely supe- 
rior strength. Following this action, Commodore Stephen Decatur, in our frigate, 
the " United States," attacked the " Macedonian," a British vessel of the same kind, 
and easily defeated her, bringing her into New York harbor on New Year's Day, 
1 813, where he received an ovation equal to that offered Captain Hull. The 
same result followed the attack of the " Constitution," now under the command 



OTHER SEA-DUELS. 



157 



of Commodore Bain- 
"Java;" the latter had her 
about one hundred wound- 
that it was decided to blow 
tion" suffered so little that 
Ironsides," a name now 
been in every school-boy's 
resulted, in the great ma- 
jority of cases in the same 
way — in all unstinted 
praise was awarded by the 



bridge, upon the English 
captain and fifty men killed and 
ed, and was left such a wreck 
her up, while the " Constitu- 
she was in sport dubbed " Old 
ennobled by a poem which has 
mouth. Other naval combats 





STATUE OF COMMODORE PERRV. 

whole world, even including 
England herself, to the admira- 
ble seamanship, the wonderful 
gunnery, and the constant per- 
sonal intrepitude of our naval 
forces. When the second year 
of the war closed our little navy 



158 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



had captured twenty-six war-ships, armed with 560 guns, while it had lost only 
seven ships, carrying 119 guns. 

But, if the highest honors of the war were thus won by our navy, the 
most serious injury materially to Great Britain was in the devastation of her 
commerce by American privateers. No less than two hundred and fifty 
of these sea guerrillas were afloat, and in the first year of the war they 
captured over three hundred merchant vessels, sometimes even attacking 
and overcoming the smaller class of war-ships. The privateers were usually 
schooners armed with a few small guns, but carrying one long cannon 
mounted on a swivel so that it could be turned to any point of the horizon, 
and familiarly known as Long Tom. Of course, the crews were influenced 
by greed as well as by patriotism. Privateering is a somewhat doubtful 
mode of warfare at the best; but international law permits it; and though 
it is hard to dissociate from it a certain odor, as of legalized piracy, it is 
legitimate to this day. And surely if it were ever justifiable it was at that 
time. As Jefferson said, there were then tens of thousands of seamen 
forced by war from their natural means of support and useless to their 
country in any other way, while by "licensing private armed vessels the whole 
naval force of the nation waS truly brought to bear on the foe." The havoc 
wrought on British trade was widespread indeed ; altogether between fifteen 
hundred and two thousand prizes were taken by the privateers. To compute 
the value of these prizes is impossible, but some idea may be gained from 
the single fact that one privateer, the "Yankee," in a cruise of less than 
two months captured five brigs and four schooners with cargoes valued at 
over half a million dollars. The men engaged in this form of warfare were 
bold to recklessness, and their exploits have furnished many a tale to Ameri- 
can writers of romance. 

The jiaval combats thus far mentioned were almost always of single vessels, 
For battles of fleets we must turn from the salt water to the fresh, from the 
ocean to the great lakes. The control of the waters of Lake Erie, Lake Onta- 
rio, and Lake Champlain was obviously of vast importance, in view of the con- 
tinued land-fighting in the West and of the attempted invasion of Canada and 
the threatened counter-invasions. The British had the great advantage of being 
able to reach the lakes by the St. Lawrence, while our lake navies had to be con- 
structed after the war began. One such little navy had been built at Presque 
Isle, now Erie, on Lake Erie. It comprised two brigs of twenty guns and sev- 
eral schooners and gunboats. It must be remembered that everything but the 
lumber needed for the vessels had to be brought through the forests by land 
from the eastern seaports, and the mere problem of transportation was a serious 
one. When finished, the fleet was put in command of Oliver Hazard Perry. 
Watching his time (and, it is said, taking advantage of the carelessness of the 



PERRY'S GREAT VICTORY. 



159 



British commander in going on shore to dinner one Sunday, when he should 
have been watching Perry's movements), the American commander drew his 
fleet over the bar which had protected it while in harbor from the onslaughts of 
the British fleet. To get the brigs over this bar was a work of time and oreat 
difficulty; an attack at that hour by the British would certainly have ended in 
the total destruction of the fleet. Once accomplished, Perry, in his flagship, the 
" Lawrence," headed a fleet often vessels, fifty-five guns, and four hundred men. 
Opposed to him was Captain Barclay with six ships, sixty-five guns, and also 




VIEW ON LAKE ONTARIO. 



; about four hundred men. The British for several weeks avoided the conflict, 
but in the end were cornered and forced to fi^ht. It was at the beeinnino- of 
this battle that Perry displayed the flag bearing Lawrence's famous dying 
words, " Don't give up the ship ! " No less famous is his dispatch announcing 
the result in the words, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." The 
victory was indeed a complete and decisive one ; all six of the enemy's ships 
were captured, and their loss was nearly double that of Perry's forces. The 
complete control of Lake Erie was assured ; that of Lake Ontario had already 
been gained by Commodore Chauncey. 



^. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Perry's memorable victory opened the way for important land operations by 
General Harrison, who now marched from Detroit with the design of invading 
Canada. He engaged with Proctor's mingled body of British troops and Indians, 
and by the Battle of the Thames drove back the British from that part of Canada 
and restored matters to the position in which they stood before Hull's deplorable 
surrender of Detroit— and, indeed, of all Michigan— to the British. In this battle 
of the Thames the Indian chief, Tecumseh, fell, and about three hundred of the 
British and Indians were killed on the field. The hold of our enemies on the 
Indian tribes was gready broken by this defeat. Previous to this the land cam- 
paigns had been marked by a succession of minor victories and defeats. In the 
West a force of Americans under General Winchester had been captured at the 
River Raisin ; and there took place an atrocious massacre of large numbers of 
prisoners by the Indians, who were quite beyond restraint from their white allies. 
On the other hand, the Americans had captured the city of York, now Toronto, 
though at the cost of their leader, General Pike, who, with two hundred of his 
men, was destroyed by the explosion of a magazine. F.ort George had also been 
captured by the Americans and an attack on Sackett's Harbor had been gal- 
lantly repulsed. Following the batde of the Thames, extensive operations of 
an aggressive kind had been planned looking toward the capture of Montreal 
and the invasion of Canada by way of Lakes Ontario and Champlain. Un- 
happily, jealousy between the American Generals Wilkinson and Hampton 
resulted in a lack of concert in their military operadons, and the expedition 

was a complete fiasco. 

One turns for consolation from the mortifying record of Wilkinson's ex- 
pedition to the story of the continuous successes which had accompanied the 
naval operadons of 1 8 1 3. Captain Lawrence, in the " Hornet," won a complete 
victory over the English brig " Peacock ;" our brig, the " Enterprise," captured the 
"Boxer," and other equally welcome victories were reported. One distinct 
defeat had marred the record— that of our fine brig, the " Chesapeake," com- 
manded by Captain Lawrence, which had been captured after one of the most 
hard-fought contests of the war by the British brig, the " Shannon." Lawrence 
himself fell mortally wounded, e.xclaiming as he was carried away, "Tell the men 
not to give up the ship but fight her till she sinks." It was a paraphrase of this 
exclamadon which Perry used as a rallying signal in the batde on Lake Erie. 
Despite his one defeat. Captain Lawrence's fame as a gallant seaman and high- 
minded patriot was untarnished, and his death was more deplored throughout 
the country than was the loss of his ship. 

In the latter part of the war England was enabled to send large reinforce- 
ments both to her army and navy engaged in the American campaigns. Events 
in Europe seemed in 1 8 1 4 to insure peace for at least a time. Napoleon's power 
was broken ; the Emperor himself was exiled at Elba ; and Great Britain at last 



Si's H 
" ?!! H 
>■ " I- 

;s-. o 
-5 - "n 

'^ = ^ F^ 

-S« CD 



i = - m 

sr?. > 
7"= s c 
*-| ^ 



-3 I 



00 



» ? s 

^ I ^ 



X >! 



3 ~; 

H * 




LUNDY'S LANE AND PLATTSBURG. 



i6i 



had her hands free. But before the reinforcements reached this country, our 
army had won greater credit and had sliown more military skill by far than were 
evinced in its earlier operations. Along the line of the Niagara River active 




WEATHERSFORD AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



fighting had been going on. In the battle of Chippewa, the capture of Fort Erie, 
the engagement at Lundy's Lane, and the defense of Fort Erie the troops, under 
the command of Winfield Scott and General Brown, had held their own, and more, 
against superior forces, and had won from British officers the admission that they 



1 62 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

fought as well under fire as regular troops. More encouraging still was the 
total defeat of the plan of invasion from Canada undertaken by the now greatly 
strengthened British forces. These numbered twelve thousand men and were 
supported by a fleet on Lake Champlain. Their operations were directed against 
Plattsburg, and in the battle on the lake, usually called by the name of that town, 
the American flotilla under the command of Commodore Macdonough completely 
routed the British fleet. As a result the English army also beat a rapid and 
undignified retreat to Canada. This was the last important engagement to take 
place in the North. 

Meanwhile expeditions of considerable size were directed by the British 
against our principal Southern cities. One of these brought General Ross with 
five thousand men, chiefly the pick of the Duke of Wellington's army, into the 
Bay of Chesapeake. Nothing was more discreditable in the military strategy of 
our Administration than the fact that at this time Washington was left unprotected, 
though in evident danger. General Ross marched straight upon the Capital, 
easily defeated at Bladensburg an inferior force of raw militia — who yet fought 
with intrepidity for the most part — seized the city, and carried out his intention of 
destroying the public buildings and a great part of the town. Most of the public 
archives had been removed. Ross' conduct in the burning of Washington was 
probably within the limits of legitimate warfare but has been condemned as semi- 
barbarous by many writers. The achievement gave great joy to the English 
papers, but was really of less importance than was supposed. Washington at 
that time was a straggling town of only eight thousand inhabitants ; its public 
buildings were not at all adequate to the demands of the future ; and an optimist 
might even consider the destruction of the old city as a public benefit, for it 
enabled Congress to adopt the plans which have since led to the making of 
perhaps the most beautiful city of the country. 

A similar attempt upon Baltimore was less successful. The people of that 
city made a brave defense and hastily threw up extensive fortifications. In the 
end the British fleet, after a severe bombardment of Fort McHenry, were driven 
off. The British Admiral had boasted that Fort McHenry would yield In a few 
hours ; and two days after, when Its flag was still flying, Francis S. Key was In- 
spired by its sight to compose the "Star Spangled Banner." 

A still larger expedition of British troops landed on the Louisiana coast 
and marched to the attack of New Orleans. Here General Andrew Jackson 
was in command. He had already distinguished himself in this war by putting 
down with a strong hand the hostile Creek Indians of the then Spanish territory 
of Florida, who had been Incited by English envoys to warfare against our 
Southern settlers; and in April, 1814, William Weathersford, the half-breed 
chief, had surrendered in person to Jackson (see Illustration). General 
Packenham, who commanded the five thousand British soldiers sent against 



THE HARTFORD CONVENTION. 163 

New Orleans, expected as easy a victory as that of General Ross at Washington. 
But Jackson had summoned to his aid the stalwart frontiersmen of Kentucky 
and Tennessee — men used from boyhood to the rifle, and who made up 
what was in effect a splendid force of sharp-shooters. Both armies threw up 
rough fortifications ; General Jackson made great use for that purpose of cotton 
bales, Packenham employing the still less solid material of sugar barrels. 
Oddly enough, the final battle, and really the most important of the war, took 
place after the treaty of peace between the two countries had already been 
signed. The British were repulsed again and again in persistent and gallant 
attacks on our fordfications. General Packenham himself was killed, together 
with many officers and seven hundred of his men. One British officer pushed to 
the top of our earthworks and demanded their surrender, whereupon he was 
smilingly asked to look behind him, and turning saw, as he afterward said, that 
the men he supposed to be supporting him "had vanished as if the earth had 
swallowed them up." The American losses were inconsiderable. 

The treaty of peace, signed at Ghent, December 24, 1S14, has been ridiculed 
because it contained no positive agreement as to many of the questio.ns in dis- 
pute. Not a word did it say about the impressment of American sailors or the 
rights of neutral ships. Its chief stipulations were the mutual restoration of ter- 
ritory and the appointing of a commission to determine our northern boundary 
line. The truth is that both nations were tired of the war ; the circumstances 
that had led to England's aggressions no longer existed ; both countries were 
suffering enormous commercial loss to no avail ; and, above all, the United States 
had emphatically justified by its deeds its claim to an equal place in the council 
of nations. Politically and materially, further warfare was illogical. If the two 
nadons had understood each other better in the first place ; if Great Britain had 
treated our demands with courtesy and justice instead of insolence ; if, in short, 
international comity had taken the place of international ill-temper, the war might 
have been avoided altogether. Its undoubted benefits to us were incidental 
rather than direct. But though not formally recognized by treaty, the rights of 
American seamen and of American ships were in fact no longer infringed upon 
by Great Britain. 

One political outcome of the war must not be overlooked. The New Eng- 
land Federalists had opposed it from the beginning, had naturally fretted at their 
loss of commerce, and had bitterly upbraided the Democratic administration for 
currying popularity by a war carried on mainly at New England's e.xpense. 
When in the latter days of the war New England ports were closed, Stonington 
bombarded, Castine in Maine seized, and serious depredations threatened every- 
where along the northeastern coast, the Federalists complained that the adminis- 
tration taxed them for the war but did not protect them. The outcome of all 
this discontent was the Hartford Convention. In point of fact it was a quite 



164 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



harmless conference which proposed some constitutional amendments, protested 
against too great centralization of power, and urged the desirability of peace with 
honor. But the most absurd rumors were prevalent about its intentions ; a regi- 
ment of troops was actually sent to Hartford to anticipate treasonable outbreaks ; 
and for many years good Democrats religiously believed that there had been a 
plot to set up a monarchy in New England with the Duke of Kent as king. 
Harmless as it was, the Hartford Convention proved the death of the Federalist 
party. Its mild debates were distorted into secret conclaves plotting treason, 
and, though the news of peace followed close upon it, the Convention was long 
an object of opprobrium and a political bugbear. 




A tLANTtK'S HOUSIi IN GEUKGIA. 



The Story of the Indian from the Coming of 
the White Man to the Present Time, 

BY HONORABLE HENRY L. DAWES, 

Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. 

At the time when our forefathers first 
landed on these shores, they found the 
Indian here. Whether at Plymouth or 
Jamestown, at the mouth of the Hudson or 
in Florida, their first welcome was from 
the red man. To him the country be- 
longed, and from him the white man se- 
cured it, sometimes by form of purchase, 
sometimes as conqueror, more otten by 
the simpler process of taking possession 
as a settler. For the most part the Indian 
acquiesced at first. The white man and 
his ways were new and strange and some- 
what fearful to the child of the forest, and 
it seemed best to propitiate so formid- 
able an antagonist. But the early setders 
were men of blood and iron, and both in 
theory and practice their tender mercies 
were cruel. On the part of the settlers 
the Indian was everywhere so treated that 
friendship turned to enmity, and on both sides fear became an ally of hate. 
Now and then a leader, broader minded than his fellows, like Standish or John 
Smith, met the red man with justice, and cemented bonds that stood the strain 
of batde ; but at the beginning, as truly as to-day, the white settler coveted 
land and pushed the Indian off it that he might dwell thereon in peace. 
And it must be said that in the seventeenth century he violated no tradiuon, set 

i6s 




INDIAN MOTHER AND INFANT. 



i66 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



Himself against no law, human or divine, when he did this. Possession was 
still the right of the stronger, the world over, and the conquest of new 
countries the chief glory of king and commons alike. To flee away from 
oppression was the only refuge, and to oppressor as well as oppressed it 
seemed a natural resort. The country was broad enough for both, thought 
the white man. If the red man could not live with the new comers on the 
coast, let him fly to the fresh wilderness of the interior ; and so he did, year 
after year, until one day there was no more wilderness. Then the nation 

which in the nineteenth century 
still kept up the habits of the seven- 
teenth, found that the weapons of 
that old time were two-edged ; we 
could not conquer without fighting, 
nor oppress without revolt ; and we 
learned at last that a new day must 
have new deeds. 

Our early relations with the 
Indian may be roughly divided into 
different periods, covering the time 
from the first landing on our shores 
until somewhere about 1 830 ; and 
then again into other periods, from 
that time until now. In the first or 
early chapter of our Indian experi- 
ences we find the period of discov- 
ery, when the savage met the new 
comer with wonder and welcome, 
and the invader plundered and 
enslaved the savage ; the colonial 
period, when the savage had grown 
wiser and more cunning and waited 
for knowledge of the settler's pur- 
oLD MISSION INDIAN OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. pose before treating with him, some- 

times living peaceably by his side, 
or sometimes uniting in the vain effort to drive him away, but always 
baffled, defeated and conquered ; and the national period, when the Indian was 
the accepted enemy of the young nation, or temporarily its ally ; but always 
their relations were those of fighting and destruction. From the year 1830 
onward, we were dictating the terms of those relations and changing them to suit 
the mood of the hour. It is necessary, however, to first consider the early 
relations of the two peoples. 




PERIOD OF DISCOVERY. 167 

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, in 1620, or Captain John Smith 
and his followers settled Jamestown, in 1607, they were by no means the first to 
hold relations with the red men. More than one hundred years had elapsed 
since Columbus, mistaking our shores for the East Indies, had named the wild 
inhabitants Indians. In that time one explorer after another had landed on our 
shores and had taken possession of one tract or another for himself or his king, 
and held it, or forgotten it, as the case miyht be. But whether French or 
English, Spanish or Dutch, these men were invariably met with kindness, hos- 
pitality, friendship ; and invariably they had returned cruelty. The Indians 
lived in scattered villages in much quiet and friendliness. Game, fish, a few 
simple vegetables, including maize and wild roots, made up their living. Hos, 
pitality to friend and stranger was a duty, and to refuse succor a crime. 
They were nowise anxious to take on the white man's ways, which seemed to 
them inferior in all that was manly. Nor was it much wonder, for the new 
comers deceived and cheated the simple Indian, or when occasion offered — some- 
times without — burned his villages, and killed the inhabitants ; and never a ship 
sailed away from the new world without its quota of kidnapped red men, carried 
over seas for trophies and slaves. The Spanish and Portuguese in the South, 
under Cortereal and Coronado and De Soto and others, the French and 
English in the north, under Cartier and Cabot and their companions, all came 
on the same search for gold, and all treated the Indian after the same fashion. 

When the year 1600 came in, it beheld a new era in America — the era 
of settlement — the day of homes and villages, and the new question arose 
whether the two races could live together in peace and quietness. All the 
experience of the past was against it in the long memory of the red man. 
In North Carolina, Sir Walter Raleigh's romantic experiment at colonizing 
Roanoke Island had come to nothing, and left behind it the memory of an 
unprovoked and treacherous massacre by the suspicious English. Yet 
notwithstanding this, the Indian still tried the vain experiment of kindness. 
When in 1607 a colony appeared at Jamestown, the great warrior Powhatan, 
whose realms had been invaded by the Carolina colony, " kindly entertained " 
the Englishmen, feeding them with bread and berries and fish, while his 
people danced for their entertainment. Shortly becoming convinced, how- 
ever, that the English occupation boded ill for his people, finding that "the 
rights of the Indian were little respected, and the English did not disdain to 
appropriate by conquest the soil, the cabins, and the granaries of the tribe 
of the Appomattox," Powhatan determined to protect his people, and strove in 
every way to dispossess the English. The skill and courage of the 
redoubtable Captain John Smith were too much for him, and an outward 
peace was maintained, although with some difficulty, by that warrior. At one 
time Captain Smith was himself taken prisoner and his life threatened, and 



i68 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



the romantic story is told that his life was preserved by the Princess 
Pocahontas. It is more probable, however, that he owed his life to his native 
wit, although such a rescue had been the happy fate of a much earlier 
explorer years before. The beautiful Pocahontas married John Rolfe, and 
thus helped greatly to bind together the colonists and the Indians. But even 
this outward kindliness was not of long duration, for the death of Powhatan 
was shortly followed by a dreadful massacre of the whites, and for twenty 
years both races in that region rivaled each other in destruction. 

In New England the story was 
much the same. Before the Pilgrims 
reached New England the Indians 
of Maine had suffered much, and 
the name of the Englishman was 
already feared and hated. Thus it 
was that a shower of arrows was the 
first welcome Massachusetts gave 
the white man. But a few months 
later an Indian, Samoset, walked 
into Plymouth, saying, "Welcome, 
Englishmen ! " and was the first of a 
group of famous red men who be- 
came the friends of the settlers. 
Squanto, Hobamok, Massasoit, Ca- 
nonicus, Uncas, Miantonomah, are 
names well known to New England 
annals, names of great warriors most 
of them, men who kept faith with 
their allies. But as time went on, 
and the inevitable results of the new 
occupation appeared, the Indians 
erew more and more unwillingf to 
give up their lands, and now and 
again made a brave stand for their own. Then occurred awful wars, bloody and 
terrible as only savage wars could be, complicated oftentimes by the jealousies 
and hereditary enmities of the different tribes. Thus if Miantonomah and the 
Narragansetts were friendly to the settler, Uncas and his Mohicans were their 
enemies. Early in si.xteen hundred, Sassacus and the proud tribe of the Pequots 
made an unavailing attempt to destroy the invader, and were utterly extermi- 
nated. It is hard to tell which were the more barbarous, the colonists or the 
Indians ; alike they burned defenseless villages, alike they murdered women and 
children. Fifty years later one of the greatest of all the Indian warriors. King 




TtiMO-CHI-cm AND HIS NEl'HEW. 
{From a print after the painting by William Vereht.) 




"DO NT GIVE UPTHE SHIP' 

Capt. Liiwrpr.ce, War of 1812. 



ABUSE OF HOSPITALITY. 



169 



Philip, made one more last effort for his country. For a year and a half he kept 
the English at bay, appearing and reappearing all over Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, and Connecticut, fighting with musket and fire as well as with tomahawk 
and scalping-knife, brave beyond the telling, and as cruel. The colonists suffered 
untold horrors, and the Indian endured still more, for in the end he saw his 
power depart and his race disappear from the soil he had loved so long. 

Meanwhile in New York and west of it, the ereat confederated tribes of the 
Iroquois or the "Six Nations" ruled over all the surrounding country. North- 
ward to Quebec, southward to Maryland, westward to Illinois and Michigan, 
they controlled the tributary tribes, and by their political ability, their courage 




AN OLD INDIAN FARM-HOUSE. 



and their powejr, they daily established themselves more and more firmly. Mo- 
hawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Oneidas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, they founded a 
federation or league, and with an elaborate polity and much advancement in the 
arts of life, with strong towns and stockaded forts, they thought themselves 
invincible. The towns were well fortified, and their palisades proved sure de- 
fenses even against the dreaded powder and balls. For more than a hundred 
years the Iroquois fought the French in Canad^^, or defended themselves against 
the French invasions in New York. The fingers of a single hand will suffice 
for the victories of the white man, yet in the end the Iroquois were so weakened 
and decimated by Frontenac, that their power was broken. Partly they owed 



170 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



this result, however, to the extraordinary diplomatic ability of the chiei of the 
Hurons, their hereditary enemies, who with the skill of a Talleyrand so manipu- 
lated both French and Indians as to greatly prolong the war. 

In Pennsylvania alone was there peace. Coming over in the last half of 
the seventeenth century, William Penn brought with him Quaker principles 
and Quaker methods. For the first time in the history of our dealings with the 
aborigines we not only began with justice but maintained it. Penn bought the 
land with much merchandise, and thereafter held the red man as of one blood 
with the white man. There were neither wars nor massacres, and in the dark 




COURTSHIP AMONG THE INDIANS. 



Story of the Indian this treaty shines with the lignt of righteousness. On the 
Pacific coast, too, was a brief brightness. There Sir Francis Drake landed in 
the "fair and good bay " of San Francisco, in 1579, and so won the hearts of 
the natives that they made him king, and wept sore for his departure ; but this 
was only an episode, and not the long test of daily contact which the Pennsyl- 
vania Quakers bore so serenely. Other and smaller points of light there were ; 
stars in the dark night. It was not until 1528 that any man remembered that 
these savages had souls, but thereafter there were never wanting brave and 
holy priests who dared unknown dangers and endured all things to teach here 



THE COLONIAL DAYS. 



171 



and there a few. Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, equaled each other In 
labors and martyrdoms in Florida and New Mexico, while the story of the 
Jesuits In the North and West is the very romance of heroism. The grants 
under which the Protestant English took possession of their lands had much to 
say of the noble work of bringing civilization and Christianity to the " infidels 
and savages living in these parts," and Virginia early made some efforts to 
establish schools and induce " the children of those barbarians" to learn the 
■'elements of literature " and " the Christian religion," but we hear little of 
practical results until the day when that apostle to the red men, John Eliot, first 
taught the Indians of Massachusetts and Connecticut. For thirty years he 




liURYING THE SACRED FLUME-STICKS IN THE OCEAN — A CURIOUS RELIGIOUS CEREMONY. 



lived among them and taught them to read, to work, to pray. He gave them a 
Bible in their own tongue, and amid labors many and perils more, he and his 
faithful follower, Thomas Mayhew, gathered from among those hunted and 
fighting savages si.x Indian churches, whose more than a thousand "praying 
Indians " once and again stood firm against fearful odds, and became a bulwark 
of safety to their pale-faced neighbors. 

While the colonists were growing strong in the North, and circumstances 
were speedily to change the Indian problem, the red men of the South were 
beginning a career unusual in our annals, since it continues in unbroken sequence 
unto this day. The Indian has gone from New England and the middle West ; 



172 THE STORY OF AMERICA. - 

the great league of the Iroquois survives only in the legal privileges still accorded 
the poor remnants of the Six Nations ; the warrior of the plains has hardly a 
link with Powhatan or Pontiac ; but the Cherokee and the Seminole are still 
Indian nations, and still treat with us and still keep to their proud isolation, as 
their forefathers did. Cherokees, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Creeks and Choctaws, 
in the early days they spread over the South from the hills of Carolina to the 
plains of Texas. The Spaniards found them there and so did the Prench. The 
Choctaws joined themselves to the French to massacre and exterminate their 
neighbors, the splendid Natchez ; the Chickasaws beat back the invading French- 
men allied with the Choctaws, and owned no masters. The Cherokees met the 
friendship of Gov. Oglethorpe in Georgia with like fidelity and frlendship,but mer 
treachery and blood in the Carolinas with like treachery and blood, until much 
fighting and many troops were spent in conquering them. The Creeks and 
Seminoles kept proud state along the Ohio, in Georgia and in Florida, and 
during the vicissitudes of their northern brethren, their lives went on more 
nearly as of old than was possible in the North. 

The wars between France and England for the possession of the New 
World in America, brought about new conditions for the Indian. It is no 
longer conflicts between separate tribes and their white neighbors we have to 
consider, but battles which were part of a larger plan and attacks inspired from 
a different motive. The chronicle becomes no longer so much the story of 
great chiefs, and struggles for tribal existence, but the Indians "were tossed 
upon the bayonets of the contending parties, courted no allies, used as scourges, 
and at all times disdained as equals." For nearly fifty years the French and 
their allies, the Algonquin tribes, made constant and bloody forays all along the 
English frontier defended by the Iroquois. Through central New York, Massa- 
chusetts, southern New Hampshire and Maine, there was no rest to the 
settler. At any moment the dreaded war-whoop might be heard, and an awful 
death awaited him, while worse captivity was the ':ertain fate of the women and 
children. The familiar story of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was a twice-told tale 
all through this wide and thickly-settled region. A remote little town, it was 
marked for attack because of its unhappy possession of a church bell intended 
for an Indian village in Canada. To rescue this bell, the ever-ready Indians 
joined the French soldiers, and amidst the snows of February, the town was 
burned to the ground, and one hundred and twelve inhabitants all killed or 
carried in cruel captivity In the eight weeks' march through the deep snows 
and bitter cold to Canada. Death brought welcome release to many of the 
party. Thus did the whole country suffer, and thus did the red man make his 
name feared above all things else. 

The varying fortunes of France and England, constantly brought similar 
fluctuations to the peace of the New World, in the fifty years before the treaties 



FRENCH AND ENGLISH WARS. 



^n 



of Utrecht and Aix la Chapelle ; but that famous peace scarcely more than 
altered the scene of the fighting on this side the water. English and French 
alike claimed the country west of the Alleghanies, and the French, with their 




Indian allies, lost no time in asserting 

their claims and defending their rights. 

Then it was, that in the spring of 1754, one George Washington, the young 

adjutant general of the Virginia militia, scarcely come to his majority, won his 

spurs in the unavailing campaign against Fort Duquesne. For more than five 



174 . THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

years the desultory war went on. Braddock's defeat was followed by many 
another French success, with its horrid accompaniment of savage warfare. 
Under Montcalm still more of the Indians joined the French, even the Iroquois 
uniting with the other tribes against the English, and it was not until 1760, that 
Canada was finally surrendered to the British. At last the harassed colonists 
hoped for peace, and dreamed that the scalping knife was thrown away. 

Shortly enough it proved a vain dream. As the plantations and towns 
crowded the huntino;- grounds farther and farther back, it " threw the Indian 
who had become possessed of habits modified by contact with the whites, 
upon the tribes living in the ancient manner, and bred tribal jealousies." 
The fierce struggle between French and English for the possession of the 
Mississippi Valley, made a new opportunity, and once more a great warrior 
arose, determined to make a desperate effort to free his people from the 
white man. We have hardly given enough credit to the military capacity 
and the genius for governing, of these great chiefs. They played French 
against English, Spanish against French, tribe against tribe ; they conspired, 
manipulated men and armies, fought or covenanted, with the skill and 
insieht and courage of great commanders. What was known as " Pontiac's 
War" was in its inception and development a revolution worthy to rank with 
the great uprisings of the old world. The Indian is always and everywhere 
possessed of the genius of ruling. State-craft is his birthright equally with 
wood-craft. Pontiac, leader of the Ottawas, Ojibways, and Pottawatomies, 
inspired by the French to take revenge, and eager to free his people from 
the hated dominion of the English, dreamed a dream of patriotism. To 
more than usual ability in many directions, he joined the imperious will and 
high ambition which mark the conqueror. He had ever been victorious, 
and he planned on a given day to sweep away the forts and crowd the 
invader into the sea ; and not without a sense of what he was undertaking, 
he proposed to do this by bringing back the French. All along the Canadian 
frontier, and in Pennsylvania and Virginia as well, the war raged for more 
than three years, before the great chief finally surrendered the hope he so 
cherished, and in 1766 made a reluctant treaty with the English. 

The hundred years which closed with the end of the Colonial period had 
not been altogether without effort to civilize and Christianize the red heathen. 
In Pennsylvania and Ohio the Moravians had won the hearts and lives of the 
Delawares until their towns blossomed with peace and prosperity, and the lives 
of the people gave goodly witness to the faith they professed. Beset by hostile 
Indians and worse beset by hostile whites, three times they were driven — these 
Christian Indians — from their beautiful homes into a new wilderness, and practis- 
ing to the full the doctrine of love and forgiveness, these converted savages made 
no resistance. At last they were rewarded with the crown of martyrdom, when 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



175 



at Gnaden Huten, without pretext, ninety unresisting- and Christian Indians were 
slaughtered in cold blood by the white men, and no voice of man, woman or 
child was left to tell the tale. Such instances are in striking contrast with the just 
dealings of Penn in Pennsylvania. Among the Iroquois the Church of England, 
the Moravians again, and the Presbyterians made much progress in teaching 
the children and spreading religion throughout the tribes. From one of their, 
schools arose Hamilton College. In New England too, John Eliot had left 
worthy successors. The names of Brainard, Jonathan Edwards, Sergeant and 




PENN's RESIDENCE IN SECOND STREET, BELOW CHESTNUT STREET. 



Wheelock are known to us still by their labors and their success in teaching the 
Indian youth ; and from both sides the water came the money to carry on their 
work. It was the last named, Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, whose determination to 
start a boarding school for his wards resulted in the establishment of Dartmouth 
College, and among his pupils was the well known Chief of the Mohawks, 
Joseph Brant, who became such a figure in the Revolutionary War. 

When the Colonies finally rebelled against the Mother Countr}', in 1775, 
the English had learned much from the Prench and Indian war as to the military 



176 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

value of the alliance with the Indians. In one way or another they had sue- 




THE APACHE CHIEFS, GERONIMO, NATCHEZ. 



ceeded in graining the friendship of most of the tribes. The Iroquois confedera- 
tion was their natural ally, through its able chief Joseph Brant, whose sister had 



INDIAN STRUGGLE FOR TERRITORY. 177 

married the famous governor, Sir William Johnson ; and thus the border line was 
always open to the British. As the French had thrown the Indian upon the set- 
tlers in the past, so the English now set their savage allies upon the defenseless 
towns and unprotected forts. The tomahawk and scalping knife were again the 
recognized weapons of warfare, and throughout New York and even in Pennsyl- 
vania terror was again abroad. It was in this struggle that the famous Seneca, 
Red lacket, fought with desperation, and opposed to the last the treaty which 
buried the hatchet, with such eloquence that twenty-five years later Lafayette still 
remembered his words. In the Northwest, the French influence happily pre- 
vailed to prevent the Indian defection to any great e.xtent, but in Kentucky and 
West Virginia there was desperate fighting in a sort of guerrilla warfare be- 
tween the red braves and such backwoodsmen as Daniel Boone. In the South 
the warlike Creeks made haste to attack the whites, but met with short shrift. 
Meanwhile the Continental Congress had placed the affairs of the Indians in 
three departments, under direction of some of its most famous men, and even 
employed the Indians in its armies. But only an isolated few were actively on 
the side of the Colonists. 

The close of the Revolutionary War brought only a partial cessation of the 
Indian warfare. The red man was by no means disposed to give up his country 
without a struggle, and all throughout the interior, in what is now Indiana, Illinois, 
and Wisconsin, and along the Ohio River, there were constant outbreaks, and 
battles of great severity. The conflict in Indiana brought forward the services 
of a young Lieutenant, William Henry Harrison, who for many years had much 
to do with Indians, both as officer and as Governor of the new Indian Territory. 
In iSii appeared another of those great Indian chiefs whose abilities and influ- 
ence are well worth attention and study. Tecumseh, a mighty warrior of mi.xed 
Creek and Shawnee blood, once more dreamt the old dream of freeing his people. 
With eloquence and courage he urged them on, by skill he combined the tribes 
in a new alliance, and, encouraged by British influence, he looked forward to a 
great success. While he sought to draw the Southern Indians into his scheme, 
his brother rashly joined battle with General Harrison, and was utterly defeated 
in the fight which gained for Harrison the title of Old Tippecanoe. Disap- 
pointed and disheartened at this destruction of his life-work, Tecumseh threw 
all his great influence on the British side in the War of 1 8 1 2, where he dealt much 
destruction to the United States troops. At Sandusky and Detroit and Chicago, 
and at other less important forts, the Indian power was severely felt ; at Terre 
Haute the young Captain Zachary Taylor met them with such courage and read- 
iness of resources that they were finally repulsed, but rarely did a similar good 
fortune befall our troops ; and it was more than a month after Commodore Perry 
won victory for us at Lake Erie, that Tecumseh himself was killed, and the 
twenty-five hundred Indians of his force were finally scattered in the great fight 



178 STORY OF AMERICA. 

of the Thames River, where our troops were commanded by William Henry 
Harrison and Richard M. Johnson, afterward President and Vice-President of the 
United States. For a Httle time the Northwest had peace. But in the South 
the warfare was not over. Tecumseh had stirred up the Creel<;s and Seminoles 
against the whites, and throughout Alabama, Georgia, and Northern Florida the 
Creek War raged with all its horrid accompaniments until 1815; even the 
redoubtable Andrew Jackson could not conquer the brave Creeks until they 
were almost exterminated, and then a small remnant still remained in the 
swamps of Florida to be heard of at a later time. 

Thus ends a brief and hasty chronicle of the American Indians in the early 
days of our Nation. Thereafter they were a subject race, and a new policy was 
adopted in which we fi.xed the terms, and they, rebelling or accepting our decision 
as it might be, in the end could only submit. But as from the beginning so it 
has gone on until now ; as we pushed the frontier farther back, at every stage 
the Indian made one more effort for his home and his hunting-grounds. 

Let us now consider how the United States has governed the Indian and 
some of our later difficulties with him. The Indian problem has been a per- 
plexing one for our country. The red man had the first moral right to the land, 
and in occupying it we felt bound to provide for his maintenance. Before the new 
Government of the United States was fully upon its feet it recognized the necessity 
and duty ot caring for its Indian population. In 1775, a year before the Declara- 
tion of Independence, the Continental Congress divided the Indians into three De- 
partments, Northern, Middl.i, and Southern, each under the care of three or more 
Commissioners, among whom we find no less personages than Oliver Wolcott, 
Philip Schuyler, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin. As early as 1S32 the 
young nation found itself confronted with an Indian problem, and created a 
separate Bureau for the charge of the red men, and inaugurated a policy in its 
treatment of them. Speaking in general, we have altered this policy three 
times. 

As a matter of fact, we have certainly altered its details, changed its 
plans, and adopted a new point of view as changing Administrations have 
changed the administrators of our Indian affairs. But in the large, there 
have been three great steps in our Indian policy, and these have to some 
extent grown out of our changing conditions. The first plan was that of the 
reservations. Under that system, as the Indian land was wanted by the white 
population he was removed across the Mississippi and still further west, pushed 
step by step beyond and beyond ; and as time went on and the population 
followed hard after, he was confined to designated tracts. It was no matter that 
these tracts were absolutely guaranteed to him, he was still driven off them again 
and again as the farmer or the miner demanded the land. In time a new policy 
was attempted, or, rather, an old policy was revived, that of concentrating the 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 179 

whole body ot Indians in one State or Territory, but the obvious impossibiHty 
of that scheme soon wrought its own end. Less than twenty years ago the 
present plan took its place, that of education and eventual absorption. 

In 1830 the country seemed to stretch beyond any possible need of 
the young nation, lusty as it was, and the wide wilderness of the Rocky 
Mountains to furnish hunting grounds for all time. The Mississippi Valley 
and the Northwest were still unsettled and uneasy, and in the South the 
Five Nations were greatly in the way of their white neighbors, and the 
scheme, of removing the red inhabitants beyond the Mississippi was begun. 
The first removals were, like the last, times of trouble and disturbance, 
and then, as now, there were two parties in the tribes, those who saw there 
was no way but submission, and those who indulged the fruitless dream of 
revolt. Thus the Sac and Fox tribe of Wisconsin was divided, and although 
Keokuk and one band went peaceably to their new home among the lowas, 
Black Hawk and his followers were slow to depart, and were removed by 
force. The Indian Department failed to furnish corn enough for the new 
settlement, and going to seek it among the Winnebagoes, the Indians came 
into collision with the Government. Thereafter ensued a series of misunder- 
standings, and consequent fights, and great alarm among the whites and the 
destruction of the Indians. The story is the same story, almost to details, that 
every year has seen from that day to this. 

Under President Monroe several treaties were made with the Five Nations, 
by which, one after another, they ceded their Southern lands to the Government, 
and took in exchange the country now known as the Indian Territory. They 
were already far advanced in civilization, with leaders combining in blood 
and brain the Indian astuteness and the white man's experience and educa- 
tion. John Ross, a half-breed chief of the Cherokees, of extraordinary ability, 
brought about the removal under conditions more favorable than often occurred. 
He was bitterly opposed by full half the Indians, and it was not without suf> 
feringfs and losses of more than one kind that the grreat Southern league was 
removed to the fair and fertile land they had chosen in the far-off West. It was 
owing to the sagacity of John Ross and his associates that this land was 
secured to them, as no other land has ever been secured to any Indian 
tribe. They hold it to-day by patent, as secure in the sight of the 
law as an old Dutch manor house or Virginia plantation, and all the learning 
of the highest tribunals has not yet found the way to evade or disregard 
tliese solemn obligations. To these men, too, and to the missionaries 
who had long taught these tribes, do they owe an elaborate and effective civili- 
zation, and a governmental polity which preserves for them alone, among all 
their red brethren, the title and the state of nations. The .Seminoles, who were 
of the Creek blood, were divided, some of them going west with their brethren, 




CUSTER S LAST FIOHT, 



'TREATIES. 



i8i 



some of them, the larger part, remaining in Florida. With these, about four 
thousand in all, under Osceola, the Government fought a seven years' war, costing 
forty millions of dollars and untold lives. After like fashion have all our "re- 
movals" proceeded, and from like causes — the greed of the white man and 
the ferocity of the outraged Indian. It is useless and impossible to give the de- 
tails of all the various tribes that have been pushed about, hither and yon. In 
1 S30 the East was already crowding toward the West, and every decade saw 
the frontier moved onward with giant strides. Everywhere the Indian was an 
undesirable neighbor, and when, in 1849, the discovery of gold began to create a 
new nation on the Pacific slope, a pressure began from that side also, and the 
intervening deserts became a thoroughfare for the pilgrims of fortune and the 
many lovers of adventure. From year to year the United States made fresh 
treaties with the innumerable tribes ; those in 
the East were gone already, those in the interior 
were following fast, and there had arisen the 
new necessity of dealing with those in the far 
West. One tribe after another would be planted 
on a reservation millions of acres in extent and 
apparently far beyond the home of civilization, 
and almost in a twelvemonth the settler would 
be upon its border demanding its broad acres. 
The reservations were altered, reduced, taken 
away altogether, at the pleasure of the Govern- 
ment, with little regard to the rights or wishes of 
the Indian. Usually this brought about fighting, 
and it produced a state of permanent discon- 
tent that wrought harm for both settler and 
savage. The Indian grew daily more and more 
treacherous and constantly more cruel. The 
white settler was daily in greater danger, and 
constantly more full of revenge. 

A new complication entered into the problem. The game was fast dis- 
appearing, and therewith the life of the Indian. It became necessary for the 
Government to furnish rations and clothes, lest he starve and freeze. Cheating 
was the rule and deception the every-day experience of these savages. In 
1795 General Wayne gained the nickname of General To-morrow, so slow was 
the Government to fulfill his promises ; and thus for more than a hundred years 
it has always been to-morrow for the Indian. Exasperated beyond endurance, 
he was ever ready to retaliate, and the horrors of an Indian war constantly hung 
over the pioneer. During all this period we treated these Indians as if they 
were foreign nations, and made solemn treaties with them, agreeing to furnish 




PEDRO PINO. LAI lU AH-TSAI-LA. FdRMERLV 
GOVERNOR OK ZUNI FOR THIRTY YEARS. 



l82 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 





them rations or markingr the reservation bounds. We have made more than a 
thousand of these treaties, and General Sherman is the authority for the state- 
ment that we have broken every one ourselves. Day by day the gluttonous 
idleness, the loss of hope and future, the sense of wrong, and the bitter feeling 
of contempt united to degrade the red man as well as to madden him. The 
fighting did not cease, for all the promises or the threats of the Government. 
But always, it is credibly declared, the first cause of an Indian outbreak has 
been a wrong suffered. And always, in these latter days as in the earlier 
period, it has meant one more effort on the part of the old warriors to regain' 

the power they saw slipping 
away so fast. Both these 
causes entered into the awful 
Sioux War in Minnesota in 
1862. Suffering from piled-up 
wrongs, smarting under the 
loss of power, and conscious 
that the Civil War was their 
opportunity, a party of one 
hundred and fifty Sioux began 
the most horrid massacre of 
the last fifty years ; the begin- 
ning of a struggle which lasted 
more than a year, which was 
remarkable for the steadfast 
fidelity of the Christian Indians, 
to whose help and succor whole 
bodies of white men owed 
their lives. Four years later, 
in 1866, the discovery of gold 
in Montana caused the inva- 
sion of the Sioux reservation, 
and Red Cloud set about defending it. Scarcely more than thirty years old, 
but no mean warrior, he fought the white man long and desperately and with 
the cunning of his race. This outbreak was scarcely quieted when another 
occurred. As was its wont, the Government forgot the promises of its treaty 
of peace, and a small band of the Cheyennes retaliated with a raid upon their 
white neighbors. General Sheridan made this the occasion he was seeking 
for a war of extermination, and in November, 1868, Lieutenant Custer fell upon 
Black Kettle's village and after a severe fight destroyed the village, killing 
more than a hundred warriors and capturing half as many women and children. 
The next year General Sheridan ordered the .Sioux and Cheyennes off the 



KON-IT L, AN INDIAN CHIEF. 



PLAN OF CONCENTRATION. 



183 



hunting grounds the treaty had reserved to them, but these were the strongest 
and bravest of the tribes and they resisted the order. A hst of heroes, Crook, 
Terry, Custer, Miles, and McKenzie, led our troops, and among the chiefs whom 
they met in a long and desperate struggle were Crazy Horse and Spotted Tail. 
notable warriors both. At the battle of the Big Horn, by some misunderstanding 
or mismanagement General Custer was left with only five companies to meet 
nearly three thousand savage Sioux. He fought desperately until the last but 
he himself was killed, and so utterly was his command destroyed that not a 
single man was left alive. The attempt to remove the Modocs from California 
to Oregon in 1872 was the signal for a new war ; and a year or two afterward 
similar results followed when it was attempted to push the Nez Perces from the 
homes they had sought in Oregon to a new reservation in Idaho. This tribe 
under their famous leader. Chief Joseph, were hard to conquer. Their military 
orsfanization, their civilized method of warfare, their couraee and skill, were 
publicly complimented by General Sherman and General Howard and General 
Gibbons, who declared Chief Joseph to be one of the greatest of modern 
warriors. 

In 1S77, discouraged at all our efforts to hold the Indians in check, it was 
determined by Secretary Schurz, then in charge of the Department of the 
Interior, to remove them all to the western part of the Indian Territory, 
where the Five Nations would cede the necessary land, and there create 
an Indian State. Great trouble arose from the attempt to carry out this 
well-meant, but impossible, effort. A single story, the story of the 
Northern Cheyennes, will illustrate the wrongs the Indian suffered as well as 
those he inflicted. The Cheyennes, as has been seen, were a tribe of great 
warriors, some of them at home in the hills of the North, some in the hills of 
the South. Cheyennes and Arapahoes, Kiowas and Comanches, were banded 
together in a close and common bond, and at first the friends of the Govern- 
ment, had become frequently its enemies, by reason of broken faith, cruel 
treatment, injustice, and downright wrong. That chronicle of misery, "A 
Century of Dishonor," contains forty pages of facts taken from the Government 
records, which relate the inexcusable and indefensible treatment of this tribe by 
the Government and the vain effort for endurance of the Cheyennes, inter- 
spersed with frequent savage outbreaks when human nature could endure no 
longer. It includes the account of a massacre of helpless Indian women and 
children under a flag of truce ; a war begun over ponies stolen from the 
Indians and sold in the open market by the whites in a land where the horse 
thief counts with the murderer ; another incited by rage against a trader who 
paid one-dollar bills for ten-dollar bills ; and tells of whole tracts of land seized 
without compensation by the United States itself The Northern Cheyennes 
had been taken by force to the Indian Territory, and in its awful heat, with 



1 84 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

scant and poor rations, a pestilence came on. Two thousand were sick at once, 
and many died because there was not medicine enough. At last three hundred 
braves, old men and young, with their women and children, broke away and, 
making a raid through Western Kansas, sought their Nebraska home. This 
was not a mild and peaceable tribe. It was fierce and savage beyond most, 
and they were wild with long endured injustice and frantic with a nameless 
terror. Three times they drove back the troops who were sent to face them, 
and, living by plunder, they made a red trail all through Kansas, until they were 
finally captured in Nebraska in December. They refused to go back to the 
Indian Territory, and the Department ordered them starved into submission. 
Food and fuel were taken from those imprisoned Indians. Four days they had 
neither food nor fire — and the mercury froze at Fort Robinson in that month ! 
And when at last two chiefs came out under a flag of truce, they were seized and 
imprisoned. Then pandemonium broke loose inside. The Indians broke up the 
useless stoves, and fought with the twisted iron. They brought out a few 
hidden arms, and howling like devils they rushed out into the night and the 
snow. Seven days later they were shot down like dogs. 

Experiences like this soon ended the attempt to gather together all our 
Indian wards, and we returned to the old plan of the reservations, but with little 
more certainty of peace than before. Again and again starvation was followed 
by fighting, nameless outrages upon the Indian by cruel outrages upon the 
white man. Whether Apaches under Geronimo in New Mexico, or Sioux in 
Dakota, it was the old story over again. Thus with constant danger menacing 
the white settler from the infuriated and savage Indian, and constant outrage 
upon the red man by rapacious and cruel whites, the government found a new 
policy necessary. By a strange and unusual sequence of events this policy was 
inaugurated. In 1869 a sharp difference arose between the two Houses of 
Congress over the appropriations to pay for eleven treaties then just negotiated, 
and the session closed with no appropriation for the Indian service. The neces- 
sity for some measure was extreme ; the plan was devised of a bill, which was 
passed at an extra session, putting two millions of dollars in the hands of Presi- 
dent Grant, to be used as he saw fit, for the civilization and protection of the 
Indian. He immediately called to his aid a commission composed of nine phil- 
anthropic gentlemen to overlook the affairs of the Indian and advise him there- 
upon. This Commission served without salary and continues to this day its 
beneficent work. Another valuable measure resulted. At the next Congress 
a law was passed forbidding any more treaties with Indians, and thenceforth 
they became our wards, not our rivals. 

The war of 1876 had indirectly another beneficent result of most far-reach- 
ing consequences. Among the brave men who had fought the Cheyennes and 
Kiowas and Comanches, was Captain Richard H. Pratt, who was put in charge 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. ^g 

of the prisoners sent to Fort Marion, Morida, as a punishment worse than 
death. They were the wildest and fiercest of warriors, who had fought long 
and desperately. On their long way to the East they had killed their guard, 
and repeatedly tried, one and another, to kill themselves. But Captain Pratt 
was a man of wonderful executive ability, of splendid courage and great faith in 
God and man. By firmness and patience and wondrous tact he gradually 
taught them to read and to work, and when after three years the Government 
offered to return them to their homes, twenty-three refused to go. Captain ; 
Pratt appealed to the Government to continue their education, and General Arm- 
strong, with his undying faith in human beings as children of one Father, and 
with his sublime enthusiasm for hvmianity, took most of them at Hampton Insti- 
tute, the rest being sent to the Nor*^'.i under the care of Bishop Huntington of 
New York. In the end these men returned to their tribes Christian men, and 
with the seventy who returned directly from Florida, every one became a power 
for peace and industry in his tribe. Out of this small beginning grew the great 
policy of Indian education, and the long story of death and destruction began 
to change to the bright chronicle of peace and education. 

What, then, is the condition of the Indian to-day? In number there are 
scarcely more than two hundred and forty thousand in the whole country. Of 
these less than one-fifth depend upon the Government for support. All told, 
they are less than the inhabitants of Buffalo or Cleveland or Pittsburgh, but 
they are not dying out, the rather steadily increasing. They are divided and 
subdivided into multitudinous tribes of different characteristics and widely differ- 
ent degrees of civilization. Some are Sioux — these are brave and able and 
intelligent ; they live in wigwams or tepees, and are dangerous and often hostile. 
Some are Zunis, and live in houses and make beautiful pottery, and are mild 
and peaceable, and do not question the ways of the Great Father at Washing- 
ton. Some are roving bands of Shoshones, dirty, ignorant, and shiftless — the 
tramps of their race — who are on every man's side at once. Some are Chilcats 
or Klinkas, whose Alaskan homes offer new problems of new kinds for every 
day we know them. And some are Cherokees, Hving in fine houses, dressed in 
the latest fashion, and spending their winters in Washington or Saint Louis. 
Yet these, and many more of many kinds, are all alike Indians. They have their 
«)wn governments, their own unwritten laws, their own customs. As a race 
they are neither worthless nor degraded. The Indian is not only brave, strong, 
abkt by inheritance and practice to endure beyond belief but he is patient under 
wrong, ready and eager to learn, and willing to undergo much privation for that 
end ; usually affectionate in his family relations, grateful to a degree, pure and 
careful of the honor of his wife and daughter ; and he is also patriotic to a fault. 
He has a great genius for government, and an unusual interest in it. He is full 
of manlv honor, and he is supremely religious. His history and traditions are 



1 86 



PRESENT CONDITION OF THE INDIAN. 



but just now discovered, to the delight and the surprise of scientific studeats. 
His daily life is a thing of elaborate ceremonial, and his national existence is as 
carefully regulated as our own, and by an intricate code. It is true that our 
failure to comprehend his character and our neglect to study his customs have 
bred many faults in him and have fostered much evil. Our treatment of him, 
moreover, has produced and increased a hostility which has been manifested in 
savage methods for which we have had little mercy. But we have not always 
given the same admiration to warlike virtues when our enemy was an Indian that 
we have showered without stint upon ancient Gaul or modern German. The 
popular idea of the Indian not only misconceives his character, but to a large 




1 \[l.i|;.l II — A\ INCIhiNT "V CI -TlK's I.'IGHT. 



degree his habits also. Even the wildest tribes live for the most part in huts or 
cabins made of logs, with two windows and a door. In the middle is a fire, 
sometimes with a stovepipe and sometimes without. Here the food is cooked, 
mostly stewed, in a kettle hung gypsy-fashion, or laid on stones over the fire. 
Around this fire, each in a particular place of his own, lies or sits the whole 
family. Sometimes the cooking is done out of doors, and in summer the close 
cabin is exchanged for a tepee or tent. Here they live, night and day. At 
night a blanket is hung up, partitioning the tent for the younger women, and if 
the family is very large, there are often two tents, in the smaller of which sleep 
the young girls in charge of an old woman. These tents or cabins are clustered 



777^ STORY OF AMERICA. 



187 



close together, and their inhabitants spend their days smoking, talking, eating, 
quarreling, as the case may be. Sometimes near them, sometimes miles away, 
is the agent's house and the Government buildings. These are usually a com- 
missary building where the food for the Indians is kept, a blacksmith shop, the 
store of the trader, school buildings, and perhaps a saw-mill. To this place the 
Indians come week by week for their food. The amount and nature of the 
rations called for by the different treaties vary gready among different tribes. 
But everywhere the Indian has come Into some sort of contact with the whites, 
and usually he makes some shift to adopt the white man's ways. A few etre 
rich, some own houses, and almost universally, now. Government schools teach 

the children something 
of the elements of 
learning as well as the 
indispensable English. 
The Immediate 
control of the reserva- 
tion Indian Is in the 
hands of the agent, 
whose power is almost 
absolute, and, like all 
despotisms, is very 
good or intolerable, as the indi- 
vidual character of the man may 
be. The agencies are inspected 
from time to time by Inspectors, 
who report directly to the Com- 
missioner [of Indian Affairs], who in his turn Is an officer of the Interior Depart- 
ment and responsible to the Secretary, who is, of course, amenable to the 
President. In each house of Congress Is a committee having charge of all 
legislation relating to Indian Affairs. Besides these officials there is the Indian 
Commission already mentioned. The National Indian Rights Association and 
the Women's National Indian Association are the unofficial and voluntary 
guardians of the Indian work. It Is their task to spread correct information, to 
create intelligent Interest, to set In motion public and private forces which will 
bring about legislation, and by public meetings and private labors to prevent 
wrongs against the Indian, and to further good work for him of many kinds. 
While the Indian Rights Association does the most public and official work for 
the race and has laro^e Influence over leelslation, the Women's Indian Associa- 
tion concerns Itself more largely with various philanthropic efforts In behalf of 
the individual, and thus the two bodies supplement each other. 

Hopeless and impossible as It seemed twenty years ago to absorb the 




Jlf DfBltHfNit., 



■If^U'fl Pnorot,«Aptf 



INDIAN AGENCY. 



i88 



NATURE OF EDUCATION AND RESULTS. 



Indian, to-day we see the process more than begun and in some cases half accom- 
phshed ; and in this work the Government, philanthropy, education, religion, 
have all had their share, and so closely have these walked together that neither 
can be set above or before the others. We began to "^-an;^ ^ 
realize, it is true, that our duty and our • * »* -^ 

safety alike lay in educating these Indians, 
as early as 1819, when Congress appro- 
priated f'^.icooo for that purpose, and ^^ ^ 
still earlier President Washinq;ton de- '"" " 





ATTACK BY MODOCS ON THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS, 
Al'KlL II, 1S7J. 






.\ 



^ 



4 



clared to a deputation of Indians his 

belief that industrial education was their 

greatest need ; but it is only within 

fifteen years that determined efforts 

have been made or adequate provision afforded. Beginning with $10,000 in 

1819, we had reached only $20,000 in 1877; but the appropriation for 1891 

for Indian education was $2,291,000. With this money we support thirteen 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 1S9 

great industrial trainincj schools established at various convenient points, and 
five more are about to be added. In them nearly 5000 children are learning not 
only books, but all manner of industries, and are adding to civilization the train- 
ing of character. There are no less than seventy boarding schools on the vari- 
ous reservations teaching and training as many more of these children of the 
hills and plains, and half as many gather daily at the one hundred little day 
schools which dot the prairies, some of them appearing to the uninitiated to be 
miles away from any habitation. This does not include the more than thirty 
mission schools of the various Churches. But all together it is hoped that in the 
excellent Government schools now provided, in the splendid missionary semi- 
naries, and in the great centres of light like Hampton and Carlisle and Haskell 
Institute, we shall in 1S92 do something for the education of nearly or quite 
two-thirds of all the 30,000 Indian children who can be reached with schools. 

The two great training schools at the East, Hampton and Carlisle, have 
proved object lessons for the white man as well as the Indian, and the opposi- 
tion they constantly encounter from those who do not believe that the red man 
can ever receive civilization is in some sort a proof of their value. In the main, 
they and all their kind have one end — the thorough and careful training in books 
and work and home life of the Indian boy and girl, and their methods are much 
alike. Once a year the Superintendents or teachers of these schools go out 
among the Indians and bring back as many boys and girls as they can persuade 
the fathers and mothers to send. At first these children came in dirt and filth, 
and with little or no ideas of any regular or useful life, but of late many of them 
have learned some beginnings of civilization in the day schools. They are 
taught English first, and by degrees to make bread and sew and cook and wash 
and keep house if they are girls ; the trade of a printer, a blacksmith, a car- 
penter, etc., if they are boys. They study books, the boys are drilled, and from 
kind, strong men and gentle, patient women they learn to respect work and even 
to love it, to turn their hands to any needed effort, to adapt themselves to new 
situations, the meaning of civilization. 

It is charged that the Indian educated in these schools does not remam 
civilized, but shortly returns to his old habits and customs. Can an Indian boy 
or girl be so far civilized in five years, it is asked, that he will withstand all the 
forces, personal and social, striving to draw him back to the easy ways of bar- 
barism when he returns to his old associates ? A detailed examination into the 
lives of three hundred and eighteen Indian students who have o-one out from 
Hampton Institute has shown that only thirty-five have in any way disappointed 
the expectations of their friends and teachers, and only twelve have failed 
altogether ; and the extraordinary test of the last Sioux war, in which only one 
of these students, and he a son-in-law of Sitting Bull, joined the hostiles, may 
well settle the question. 



TQO 



LAND IN SEVERALTY LAW. 



With the passage of the Severalty Law, in 1887, a new era opened before 
the Indian. Under it, if he will, there is secured to him and each member of 
his family a homestead of eighty acres, inalienable and exempt from taxation 
for twenty-five years. With this homestead comes citizenship and all its privi- 
leges and immunities, obligations and opportunities. All these are his, also, 
without allotment of any land in severalty, whenever he will abandon his tribe 
and take upon himself the ways of the white man. Nearly twenty thousand 

have already since the passage of 
this law taken their place in the citi- 
zenship of the nation. The transi- 
tion from a state of dependent wards, 
whose dwelling place and manner of 
life, whose food and raiment and 
very being, were controlled by 
another, into the independence and 
responsibilities of United States 
citizenship, has been so sudden, and 
in some cases without due prepara- 
tion for so great a change, as to prove 
a severe test of the manhood in the 
Indian. There have been failures, 
but they have been marvelously few, 
and this way out of barbarism to 
civilization is becoming plainer and 
surer every day. 

The providing of an inalienable 
home for the Indian, and citizenship, 
with all that pertains to that royal 
title, to all who avail themselves of 
this grant, has brought along with it 
the necessity for new laws, almost 
a new code, for the government and 
protection of this race. Citizenship, 
provided in the Severalty Law, by its own force brought every one it reached at 
once into the same forum and under the same shield as every other citizen of 
the United States. It also defined and guarded the marriage relation and the 
descent of property, as well as other domestic relations, hitherto shadowy and 
but little regarded. But the reservation and wild Indian cannot ap^aeal to this 
law for protection or assertion of his rights. It has been more difficult to bring 
him within the pale of legal enactment either for restraint or protection. Yet 
great progress has been made even here. The judicious expenditure of large 




GENERAL GEOIIGE CROOK. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 191 

appropriations for the education of the Indian has done much to clear the way 
and make the bringing of this class of Indians under the restraining and 
civilizing influence of law. It has not always been possible, among savages, to 
do this in strict conformity with the normal methods pointed out in the Const! 
tution which governs the States and civilized people, but methods have been 
adopted suited to the conditions of the several tribes, and best adapted to the 
maintenance of peace, the protection of person and property, and the lesson 
of restraint which comes from familiarity witli the administration of law in its 
various forms. This has been accomplished to a remarkable degree through 
the agency of the Indian himself An Indian police selected from the most 
trustworthy and efficient Indians, paid and uniformed by the Government, 
patrol the reservations, preserving the peace and enforcing an observance of 
law. A "Court of Indian Offenses," presided over by three discreet and 
influential Indians appointed by and under the constant supervision of the 
Secretary of the Interior, try and punish those who are charged with the com- 
mission of minor offenses ; while in the matter of the more serious crimes of 
murder, arson, robbery, and the like, perpetrated either by or upon an Indian, 
the offender is by law to be tried and punished in all respects as if both parties 
were white men. In this way substantial security to person and property 
prevails upon the reservation. 

It has been said that religion and philanthropy and the Government have 
gone hand in hand in the work of educating the Indian to a new conception of 
manhood. Without the work done for him by the missionaries, no progress 
would have been possible. And if some of the work already described has been 
labeled philanthropic or legislative or educational, it has been as truly missionary 
work as any done on the frontier, and its motives and many times its methods 
have been the missionary zeal and the missionary teaching. Captain Pratt was 
by no means the first man who ever taught an Indian. The saintly Bishop 
Whipple had lived among the Minnesota Indians for years, and that other saint, 
Dr. Riggs, had given his life to the Dakotas long before, and a generation had 
passed since Samuel Wooster suffered in prison for teaching the Cherokees. 
The Congregationalists at .Santee, at Hampton, the Episcopalian Bishop Hare's 
wonderful schools in Dakota, the Presbyterians in Nebraska and Alaska, the 
Unitarians among the Crows, the Friends with the Sacs and Foxes in the South, 
and each of these and others in many other places dotted all over the land, are 
teaching the Indians of the Great Father, of Him who is the light and life of the 
world, of the salvation and brotherhood of men ; and they are eager to hear it. 
Our duty and our interest go hand in hand and the pathway is becoming plainer 
every day. 

The irresistible growth of the nation in the increase of its population 
demanding homes, in the reaching out alter every element of wealth and power 



192 



NECESSITY AND DUTY OF ABSORPTION. 



lying within its utmost confines, is absorbing, with everything else material, the 
last unoccupied acre of the heritage of the Indian. Shall it also absorb the race 
itself, and make it part of its citizenship and body politic ? Either this, or what 
is left of the Indian race, two hundred and fifty thousand, must be soon turned 
out, a homeless, penniless band of wandering, savage tramps, the terror of the 
land. There is no alternative to this outcome but absorption or extermina- 
tion. The latter being impossible, the former alone is left us. We have 

wisely accepted it, and the success 
which has thus far attended the 
undertaking to fit the race for 
absorption attests its wisdom. As 
an Indian of the old time and 
character he is fast disappearing, 
and a new strain of blood, rela- 
tively slight and not void of good 
elements, is being safely injected 
into national citizenship. If the 
work be persisted in patiently 
and kindly it will soon be ended. 
But it cannot be accomplished by 
enactment alone, nor, without that, 
by educational or missionary effort. 
All these in harmonious endeavor, 
with self-supporting citizenship as 
the end in view, bent on the lift, 
will surely and speedily raise him 
from the low condition of helpless 
and aimless and worse than useless 
barbarism, to the plane where he 
can, according to the measure of 
an ever-increasing capacity, con- 
tribute to the wealth of citizenship 
in the land. This is no small labor 
lighdy turned off. It is changing into civilized life the barbarism of centuries. 
The savage must be inspired with new thoughts and aspirations, and to make 
room for these the passions and tendencies of ages and generations must be 
driven out. It is not beginning with the tabula 7^asa of an infant, but with life 
born and bred a savage life. The infant is to be taught to walk, not only as a 
white man walks, but to shun the slippery ways toward which all its surround- 
ings, all its blood, and all the life which it inherits are drawing it. It is a great 




i:kneral crooks apache guide. 




THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS 

Three commissioners from tlit: t'onfcderai;y suL^gesting terms of Pence to President Lincoln and Secretary 
Seward in Fortress Monroe^ January. IStio 




PICKETT'S RETURN FROM HIS FAMOUS CHARGE 

"C.eneral, luy noble division is swept away." 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 193 

undertaking, and will cost much in time and money ; but it is also a necessity, 
and in the end will bring full recompense. 

The Indian race is worthy of our deepest interest. Here is a people full of 
natural pride and bound together in a national fee'ing much stronger than we 
ourselves know anything about, crushed down by the power of a Government 
which seems to them always their enemy but always professing to be their 
protector ; full of despair that sees no hope in the future ; perplexed with the 
present, that seems to their direct ways and simple thought to have no explana- 
tion, but is always in some manner to be full of sorrow and trouble ; without 
occupation, with no one to understand their past or care for their heroes and 
their history ; shot down like dogs for disobeying law they do not comprehend, 
and execrated for the bravery that all men elsewhere are wont to admire ; losing 
at once their children and their customs ; these uncomprehended statesmen, 
these despised knights, this people, who can find no common ground with their 
destroyers, ask of us at least to know who they are, what they want, why they 
are as they are, to see where the fault lies, to know what it means when a war 
arises ; — to put ourselves in their place, and at least to pay attention. A tragedy 
of nations is going on in our midst and we sit calmly by, never giving it even 
the idle attention of our leisure. And some of the woes of this tragedy are also 
the birth-pangs of a new nation. If the sorrows of the past and the present do 
not affect us, let us at least sympathize with the hopes of the present and the 
future. We are given the unusual privilege to see a nation born in our midst. 
Out of the darkness of the past, its ignorance, its custom-bound barbarism, its 
wild and splendid bravery of battle, a nation is coming Into the light, is begin- 
ninof to know knowledofe, to feel the freedom of life under law, to show the less 
splendid but all-requiring bravery of the new manhood, the every-day fortitude 
of the new womanhood. 




EXECUTING NEGROES IN NEW YORK. 



The Story of the Black Man in Slavery and 

in Freedom, 




When, over two hundred 
and seventy years ago (it is 
in doubt whetlier tlie correct 
date is 1619 or T620) a few 
wretclied negroes, some say 
fourteen, some say twenty, 
■^ were bartered for provisions 
rs by the crew of a Dutch man- 
of-war, then lying off the 
Virginia coast, it would have 
seemed incredible that in 1890 
the negro population of the 
Southern States alone should 
almost reach a total of seven 
million souls. African negroes 
had, indeed, been sold into 
slavery among many nations for perhaps three thousand years ; but in its earlier 
periods slavery was rather the outcome of war than the deliberate subject of 
trade, and white captives no less than black were ruthlessly thrown into servitude. 
It has been estimated that in historical times some forty million Africans have 
been enslaved. The Spaniards found the Indian an intractable slave, and for the 
arduous labors of colonization soon began to make use of neQro slaves, importino- 
them m great numbers and declaring that one negro was worth, as a human beast 
of burden, four Indians. Soon the English adventurers took up the traffic. It is 
to Sir John Hawkins, the ardent discoverer, that the English-speaking peoples 
owe their participation in the slave trade. He has put it on record, as the result 
of one of his famous voyages, that he found "that negroes were very good mer- 
chandise in Hispaniola and might easily be had on the coast of Guinea." For 
his early adventures of this kind he was roundly taken to task by Queen Eliza- 
beth. But tradition says that he boldly faced her with the argument that the Af- 
ricans were an inferior race, and ended by convincing the Virgin Queen that the 
slave trade was not merely a lucrative but a perfectly philanthropic undertaking. 

19s 



196 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Certain it is that she acquiesced in future slave trading, while her successors, 
Charles II and James II, chartered four slave trading companies and received 
a share in their profits. It is noteworthy that both Great Britain and the United 
States recognized the horrors of the slave trade as regards the seizing and 
transportation from Africa of the unhappy negroes, long before they could 
brino- themselves to deal with the problem of slavery as a domestic institution. 
Of those horrors nothing can be said in exaggeration. They exist to-day in the 
interior of Africa, in no less terrible form than a hundred years ago ; and the year 
1 89 1 has seen the Great Powers combining in the attempt to eradicate an evil of 
enormous and growing proportions. The peculiar atrocities attending the expor- 
tation of slaves from Africa to other countries have, however, happily become a 
thing of the past. What those atrocities were even in our day may be judged 
from one of many accounts given by a no means squeamish or over sensitive sailor, 
Admiral Hobart. He thus describes the appearance of a slaver just captured by a 
British ship : "There were four hundred and sixty Africans on board, and what 
a sight it was ! The schooner had been eighty-five days at sea. They were 
short of water and provisions ; three distinct diseases — namely, small-pox, 
ophthalmia, and diarrhoea in its worst form — had broken out, while coming 
across, among the poor, doomed wretches. On opening the hold we saw a 
mass of arms, legs, and bodies, all crushed together. Many of the bodies to 
whom these limbs belonged were dead or dying. In fact, when we had made 
some sort of clearance among them we found in that fearful hold eleven bodies 
lying among the living freight. Water ! V/ater ! was the cry. Many of them 
as soon as free jumped into the sea, partly from the delirious state they were 
in, partly because they had been told that if taken by the English they would 
be tortured and eaten." 

The institution of slavery, introduced as we have seen into Virginia, grew 
at first very slowly. Twenty-five years after the first slaves were landed the 
neo-ro population of the colony was only three hundred. But the conditions of 
agriculture and of climate were such, that once slaveiy obtained a fair start, it 
spread with continually increasing rapidity. We find the Colonial Assembly 
passing one after another a series of laws defining the condition of the negro 
slave more and more clearly, and more and more pitilessly. Thus, a distinction 
was soon made between them and Indians held in servitude. It was enacted, 
" that all servants not being Christians imported into this colony by shipping, 
shall be slaves for their lives ; but what shall come by land shall serve, if boyes 
or girles until thirty years of age, if men or women twelve years and no longer." 
And before the end of the century a long series of laws so encompassed the 
negro with limitations and prohibitions, that he almost ceased to have any 
criminal or civil rights and became a mere personal chattel. 

In some of the Northern colonies slavery seemed to take root as readily 



BEGINNING OF THE SLAVE TRAFFIC. 



197 



and to flourish as rapidly as in the South. It was only after a considerable time 
that social and commercial conditions arose which led to its gradual abandon- 
ment. In New York a mild type of negro slavery was introduced by the Dutch. 
The relation of master and slave seems in the 
period of the Dutch rule, to have been free from 
great severity or cruelty. After the seizure of the 
government by the English, however, the institution 
was officially recognized and even encouraged. 
The slave trade grew in magnitude ; and here 








INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY. 



agam we find a series of oppres- 
sive laws forbidding the meet- 
mg of negroes together, laying 
down penalties for concealing 
slaves, and the like. In the 
early years of the eighteenth 
century fears of insurrection 
became prevalent, and these 
fears culminated in 1741 in the episode of the so-called Negro Plot. Very briefly 
stated, this plot grew out of a succession of fires supposed to have been the work 
of negro incendiaries. The most astonishing contradictions and self-inculpations 



igS THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

are to bo found in the involved mass of testimony taken at the different trials. 
It is certain that the perjury and incoherent accusations of these trials can 
only be equaled by those of the alleged witches at Salem, or of the famous 
Popish plot of Titus Oates. The result is summed up in the bare statement 
that in three months one hundred and fifty negroes were imprisoned, of 
whom fourteen were burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, and seventy-one 
ivere transported. Another result was the passing of even more stringent 
legislation, curtailing the rights and defining the legal status of the slave. 
When the Revolution broke out there were not less than fifteen thousand 
slaves in New York, a number greatly in excess of that held by any other 
Northern colony. 

Massachusetts, the home in later days of so many of the most eloquent 
abolition agitators, was from the very first, until after the war with Great Britain 
was well under way, a stronghold of slavery. The records of 1633 tell of the 
fright of Indians who saw a " Blackamoor " in a tree top whom they took for 
the devil in person, but who turned out to be an escaped slave. A few years 
later the authorities of the colony officially recognized the institution. It is true 
that in 1645 the general court of Massachusetts ordered certain kidnapped 
negroes to be returned to their native country, but this was not because they 
were slaves but because their holders had stolen them away from other masters. 
Despite specious arguments to the contrary, it is certain that, to quote Chief 
Justice Parsons, "Slavery was introduced into Massachusetts soon after its first 
settlement, and was tolerated until the ratification of the present constitution in 
1780." The curious may find in ancient Boston newspapers no lack of such 
advertisements as that, in 1728, of the sale of "two very likely negro girls" 
and of " A likely negro woman of about nineteen years and a child about seven 
months of age, to be sold together or apart." A Tory writer before the out- 
break of the Revolution, sneers at the Bostonians for their talk about freedom 
when they possessed two thousand negro slaves. Even Peter Faneuil, who 
built the famous " Cradle of Liberty," was himself, at that ver}' time, actively 
engaged in the slave trade. There is some truth in the once common taunt of 
the pro-slavery orators that the North imported slaves, the South only bought 
them. Certainly there was no more active centre of the slave trade than Bris- 
tol Bay, whence cargoes of rum and iron goods were sent to the African coast 
and exchanged for human cargoes. These slaves were, however, usually taken, 
not to Massachusetts, but to the West Indies or to Virginia. One curious out- 
come of slavery in Massachusetts was that from the gross superstition of a 
negro slave, Tituba, first sprang the hideous delusions of the Salem witchcraft 
trials. The negro, it may be here noted, played a not insignificant part in 
Massachusetts Revolutionary annals. Of negro blood was Crispus Attucks, 
one of the "martyrs" of the Boston riot; it was a negro whose shot killed the 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. i^g 

British General Pitcairn at Bunker Hill ; and it was a negro also who planned 
the attack on Percy's supply train. 

As with New York and Massachusetts, so with the other colonies. Either 
slavery was introduced by greedy speculators from abroad or it spread easily 
from adjoin'ng colonies. In 1776 the slave population of the ttirteen colonies 
was almost exactly half a million, nine-tenths of whom were to be found in the 
Southern States. In the War of the Revolution the question of arming the 
negroes raised bitter opposition. In the end a comparatively few were enrolled, 
and it is admitted that they served faithfully and with courage. Rhode Island 
even formed a regiment of blacks, and at the siege of Newport and afterwards 
at Point's Bridge, New York, this body of soldiers fought not only without reproach 
but with positive heroism. 

With the debates preceding the adoption of the present Constitution of the 
United States the political problem of slavery as a national question began. 
Under the colonial system the responsibility for the traffic might be charged, 
with some justice, to the mother country. But from the day when the Declaration 
of Independence asserted " That all men are created equal, that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness," the peoples of the new, self-governing States 
could not but have seen that with them lay the responsibility. There is ainple 
evidence that the fixing of the popular mind on liberty as an ideal bore results 
immediately in arousing anti-slavery sentiment. .Such sentiment existed in the 
South as well as in the North. Even North Carolina in 1786 declared the slave 
trade of "evil consequences and highly impolitic." All the Northern States 
abolished slaver)^ beginning with Vermont, in 1777 and ending with New Jersey 
in 1804. It should be added, however, that many of the Northern slaves were 
not freed, but sold to the South. As we have already intimated, also, the 
agricultural and commercial conditions in the North were such as to make slave 
labor less and less profitable, while in the .South the social order of things, 
agricultural conditions, and the climate, were gradually making it seemingly 
indispensable. 

When the Constitutional debates began the trend of opinion seemed 
strongly against slavery. Many delegates thought that the evil would die out 
of itself. One thought the abolition of slavery already rapidly going on and 
soon to be completed. Another asserted that "slavery in time will not be a 
speck in our country." Mr. Jefferson, on the other hand, in view of the retention 
of slavery, declared roundly that he trembled for his country when he remem- 
bered that God was just. And John Adams urged again and again that " every 
measure of prudence ought to be assumed for the eventual total extirpation 
of slavery from the United States." The obstinate States in the convention 
were South Carolina and Georgia. Their delegates declared that their States 



200 SLA J TRY ESTABLISHED IN THE SOUTH. 

would absolutely refuse ratification to the Constitution unless slavery were 
recognized. The compromise sections finally agreed upon avoided the use of 
the words slave and slavery but clearly recognized the institution and even gave 
the slave States the advantage of sending representatives to Congress on a 
basis of population determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, 
"three-fifths of all other persons." The other persons thus referred to were, it 
is needless to add, negro slaves. 

The entire dealing with the question of slavery, at the framing of the Con- 
stitution, was a series of compromises. This is seen again in the postponement 
of forbidding the slave trade from abroad. Some of the Southern States had 
absolutely declined to listen to any proposition which would restrict their freedom 
of action in this matter, and they were yielded to so far that Congress was 
forbidden to make the traffic unlawful before the year 1808. As that time ap- 
proached. President Jefferson urged Congress to withdraw the country from all 
" further participation in those violations of human rights which have so long been 
continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa." Such an act was at once 
adopted, and by it heavy fines were imposed on all persons fitting out vessels 
for the slave trade and also upon all actually engaged in the trade, while vessels 
so employed became absolutely forfeited. Twelve years later another act was 
passed declaring the importation of slaves to be actual piracy. This latter law, 
however, was of little practical value, as it was not until 1861 that a conviction 
was obtained under it. Then, at last, when the whole slave question was about 
to be settled forever, a ship-master was convicted and hanged for piracy in New 
York for the crime of being engaged in the slave trade. In despite of all laws, 
however, the trade in slaves was continued secretly, and the profits were so 
enormous that the risks did not prevent continual attempts to smuggle slaves 
into the territory of the United States. 

The first quarter of a centur}^ of our history, after the adoption of the Con- 
stitution, was marked by comparative quietude in regard to the future of slavery. 
In the North, as we have seen, the institution died a natural death, but there 
was no disposition evinced in the Northern States to interfere with it in the 
South. The first great battle took place in 1820 over the so-called Missouri 
Compromise. Now, for the first time, the country was divided, sectionally and 
in a strictly political way, upon issues which involved the future policy of the 
United States as to the extension or restriction of slave territory. State after 
State had been admitted into the Union, but there had been an alternation of 
slave and free States, so that the political balance was not disturbed. Thus, 
Virginia was balanced by Kentucky, Tennessee by Ohio, Louisiana by Indiana, 
and Mississippi by Illinois. The last State admitted had been Alabama, of course 
as a slaveholding State. Now it was proposed to admit Missouri, and, to still 
maintain the equality of political power, it was contended that slavery should be 




-"^^ 




A.MKb I.. r.LAlNli 



\\ ILI.IaM M. K I \ I 1 \ 





C.ROVKK CI.FA'tl.AND WILLIAM I. l:kVAN 

GREAT AMERICAN POLITICAL LEADERS, LAST QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUBV 




n 




AL'RAHAM LINCOLN. (Ismi-lSlir,) 



LM.VSSKS S1MPS(JN GRANT. (iSzJ-itSs) 





L -. 

Mil. IK I li.MlM.'IK (.S07-1S70I WILLIAM r SHERMAN, (iSjo-lSgl) 

THE GREAT LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 20i 

prohibited within her borders. But the slave power had by this time acquired 
great strength, and was deeply impressed with the necessity of establishing itself 
in the vast territory west of the Mississippi. The Southern States would not 
tolerate for a moment the proposed prohibition of slavery in the new State of 
Missouri. On the other hand, the Middle and Eastern States were begfinning- 
to be aroused to the danger threatening public peace if slavery were to be 
allowed indefinite extension. They had believed that the Ordinance of 1787, 
adopted simultaneously with the Constitution, and which forbade slavery to be 
established in the territory northwest of the Ohio, had settled this question 
definitely. A fierce debate was waged through two sessions of Congress, and 
in the end it was agreed to withdraw the prohibition of slavery in Missouri, but 
absolutely prohibit it forever in all the territory lying north of 36° 30' latitude. 
This was a compromise, satisfactory only because it seemed to dispose of the 
question of slavery in the territories once and forever. It was carried mainly by 
the great personal influence of Henry Clay. It did, indeed, dispose of slavery 
as a matter of national legislative discussion for thirty years. 

But this interval was distinctively the period of agitation. Anti-slavery 
sentiment of a mild t)'pe had long existed. The Quakers had, since Revolu- 
tionary times held anti-slavery doctrines, had released their own servants from 
bondage, and had disfellowshiped members who refused to concur in the sacri- 
fice. The very last public act of Benjamin Franklin was the framing of a memo- 
rial to Congress deprecating the e.xistence of slavery in a free country. In New 
York the Manumission Society had been founded in i 785, with John Jay and 
Alexander Hamilton, in turn, as Its presidents. But all the writing and speak- 
ing was directed against slavery as an institution and in a general way, and with 
no tone of aggression. Gradual emancipation or colonization were the only 
remedies suggested. It was with the founding of the "Liberator" by William 
Lloyd Garrison, in 1831, that the era of aggressive abolitionism began. Garri- 
son and his society maintained that slavery was a sin against God and man ; that 
immediate emancipation was a duty ; that slave owners had no claim to compen- 
sation ; that all laws upholding slavery were, before God, null and void. Garri- 
son exclaimed : "I am in earnest. I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I 
will not retreat a single inch. And I will be heard." His paper bore conspicu- 
ously the motto " No union with slaveholders." The Abolitionists were, in 
numbers, a feeble band ; as a party they never acquired strength, nor were 
their tenets adopted strictly by any political party ; but they served the purpose 
of arousing the conscience of the nation. They were abused, vilified, mobbed, 
all but killed. Garrison was dragged through the streets of Boston with a rope 
around his neck — through those very streets which, in 1854, had their shops 
closed and hung in black, with flags Union down and a huge coffin suspended in 
mid-air, on the day when the fugitive slave, Anthony Burns, was marched through 



202 



AGITATION AND AGITATORS. 



them on his way back to his master, under a guard of nearly two thousand men. 
Mr. Garrison's society soon took the ground that the union of States with 
slavery retained was "an agreement with hell and a covenant with death," and 
openly advocated secession of the non-slaveholding States. On this issue the 
Abolitionists split into two branches, and those who threw off Garrison's lead 
maintained that there was power enough under the Constitution to do away with 
slavery. To the fierce invective and constant agitation of Garrison were, in 
time, added the splendid oratory of Wendell Phillips, the economic arguments 
of Horace Greeley, the wise statesmanship of Charles Sumner, the fervia writ- 







A COTTON FIELD IN GEORGIA. 



ings of Channing and Emerson, and the noble poetry of Whittier. All these 
and others, in varied ways and from different points of view, joined in educating 
the public opinion of the North to see that the permanent existence of slavery 
was incompatible with that of a free Republic. 

In the South, meanwhile, the institution was intrenching itself more and 
more firmly. The invention of the cotton-gin and the beginning of the reign of 
Cotton as King made the great plantation system a seeming commercial neces- 
sity. From the deprecatory and half apologetic utterances of early Southern 
statesmen we come to Mr. Calhoun's declaration that slavery " now preserves 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 203 

in quiet and security more than six and a half million human beings, and that 
it could not be destroyed without destroying the peace and prosperity of nearly 
half the States in the Union." The Abolitionists were regarded in the South 
with the bitterest hatred. Attempts were even made to compel the Northern 
States to silence the anti-slavery orators, to prohibit the circulation through the 
mail of anti-slavery speeches, and to refuse a hearing in Congress to anti-slavery 
petitions. The influence of the South was still dominant in the North. Though 
the feeling against slavery spread, there co-e.xisted with it the belief that an 
open quarrel with the South meant commercial ruin ; and the anti-slavery senti- 
ment was also neutralized by the nobler feeling that the Union must be pre- 
served at all hazards, and that there was no constitutional mode of interfering 
with the slave system. The annexation of Te.xas was a distinct gain to the 
slave power, and the Mexican war was undertaken, said John Ouincy Adams, in 
order that " the slaveholding power in the Government shall be secured and 
riveted." 

The actual condition of the negro over whom such a strife was being waged 
differed materially in different parts of the South, and under masters of different 
character, in the same locality. It had its side of cruelty, oppression, and 
atrocity ; it had also its side of kindness on the part of master and of devotion 
on the part of slave. Its dark side has been made familiar to readers by such 
books as " Uncle Tom's Cabin," as Dickens' " American Notes," and as Edmund 
Kirk's "Among the Pines ;" its brighter side has been charmingly depicted in 
the stories of Thomas Nelson Page, of Joel Chandler Harris, and of Harry 
Edwards. On the great cotton plantations of Mississippi and Alabama the 
slave was often overtaxed and harshly treated ; in the domestic life of Virginia, 
on the other hand, he was as a rule most kindly used, and often a relation of 
deep affection sprang up between him and his master. Of insurrections, such 
as those not uncommon in the West Indies, only one of any extent was ever 
planned in our slave territory — that of Nat Turner, in Southampton County, 
Virginia — and that was instantly suppressed. 

With this state of public feeling North and South, it was with increased 
bitterness and increased sectionalism that the subject of slavery in new States 
was again debated in the Congress of 1850. The Liberty Party, which held 
that slavery might be abolished under the Constitution, had been merged in the 
Free Soil Party, whose cardinal principle was, "To secure free soil to a free 
people" without interfering with slavery in existing States, but insisting on its 
exclusion from territory so far free. The proposed admission of California was 
not affected by the Missouri Compromise. Its status as a future free or slave 
State was the turning point of the famous debates in the Senate of 1850, in 
which Webster, Calhoun, Douglas and Seward won fame — debates which have 
never been equaled in our history in eloquence and acerbity. It was in the 



204 



THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 



coarse of these debates that Mr. Seward, while denying that the Constitution 
recognized property in man, struck out his famous dictum, "There is a higher 
law than the Constitution." The end reached was a compromise which allowed 
California to setde for itself the question of slavery, forbade the slave trade in 
the District of Columbia, but enacted a strict fugitive slave law. To the 
Abolitionists this fugitive slave law, sustained in its most extreme measures by 
the courts in the famous — or as they called it, infamous — Dred Scott case, was 
as fuel to fire. They defied it in every possible way. The Underground Rail- 
way was the outcome of this defiance. By it a chain of secret stations was 



i 




A NEGRO VILLAGE IN ALABAMA. 



established, from one to the other of which the slave was gi:ided at night until 
at last he reached the Canada border. The most used of these routes in the 
East was from Baltimore to New York, thence north through New England; 
that most employed in the West was from Cincinnati to Detroit. It has 
been estimated that not fewer than thirty thousand slaves were thus assisted 
t» freedom. 

Soon the struggle was changed to another part of the Western territory, 
now beginning to grow so rapidly as to demand the forming of new States. 
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill introduced by Douglas was in effect the repeal of the 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. ?05 

Missouri Compromise in tliat it left the question as to whether slavery should be 
carried into the new territories to the decision of the settlers themselves. A.; a 
consequence immigration was directed by both the anti-slavery and the pro- 
slavery parties to Kansas, each determined on obtaining a majority to control 
the form of the proposed State Constitution. Then began a series of acts of 
violence which almost amounted to civil war. "Bleeding Kansas" became a 
phrase in almost every one's mouth. Border ruffians swaggered at the polls 
and attempted to drive out the assisted emigrants sent to Kansas by the Abolition 
societies. The result of the election of the Legislature on its face made Kansas 
a slave State, but a great part of the people refused to accept this result ; and 
a convention was held at Topeka which resolved that Kansas should be free 
even if the laws formed by the Legislature should have to be "resisted to a 
bloody issue." 

Prominent among the armed supporters of free State ideas in Kansas was 
Captain John Brown, a man whose watchword was at all times Action. "Talk," 
he said, "is a national institution ; but it does no good for the slave." He 
believed that slavery could only be coped with by armed force. His theory was 
that the way to make free men of slaves was for the slaves themselves to resist 
any attempt to coerce them by their masters. He was undoubtedly a tanatic in 
that he did not stop to measure probabilities or to take account of the written 
law. His attempt at Harper's Ferry was without reasonable hope, and as the 
intended beginning of a great military movement was a ridiculous fiasco. But 
there was that about the man that none could call ridiculous. Rash and 
unreasoning as his action seemed, he was yet, even by his enemies, recognized 
as a man of unswerving conscience, of high ideals, ot deep belief in the brother- 
hood of mankind. His offense against law and peace was cheerfully paid for 
by his death and that of others near and dear to him. Almost no one at that 
day could be found to applaud his plot, but the incident had an effect on 
the minds of the people altogether out of proportion to its intrinsic character. 
More and more as time went on he became recognized as a pro-martyr of 
a cause which could be achieved only by the most complete self-sacrifice of 
individuals. 

Events of vast importance to the future of the negro in America now 
hurried fast upon each other's footsteps — the final settlement of the Kansas 
dispute by its becoming a free State ; the forming and rapid growth of the 
Republican party ; the division of the Democratic party into Northern and 
Southern factions ; the election of Abraham Lincoln ; the secession of South 
Carolina, and, finally, the greatest civil war the world has known. Though that 
war would never have been waeed were it not for the ncCTro, and thous^h his fate 
was inevitably involved in its result, it must be remembered that it was not 
undertaken on his account. Before the strusjgfle betjan Mr. Lincoln said : " If 

13 



2o6 



IVAR AND HOW IT EMANCIPATED THE SLAVE. 



there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not 
save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not 
agree with them. My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to 
destroy or to save slavery." And the Northern press emphasized over and over 
again the fact that this was "a white man's war." But the logic of events is 
inexorable. It seems amazing now that Union generals should have been 
puzzled as to the question whether they ought in duty to return runaway slaves 
to their masters. General Butler settled the controversy by one happy phrase 
when he called the fugitives " contraband of war." Soon it was deemed right 











EARLY HOME OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, GENTRYVILLE, LNDIANA. 



to use these contrabands, to employ the new-coined word, as the South was 
using the negroes still in bondage, to aid in the non-fighting work of the army 
— on fortification, team driving, cooking, and so on. From this it was but a 
step, though a step not taken without much perturbation, to employ them 
as soldiers. At Vicksburg, at Fort Pillow, and in many another battle, the 
negro showed beyond dispute that he could fight for his liberty. No fiercer 
or braver charge was made in the war than that upon the parapet of 
Fort Wagner by Colonel Shaw's gallant colored regiment, the Massachusetts 
Fifty-fourth. 

In a thousand ways the negro figures in the history of the war. In its 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 207 

literature he everyAvhere stands out picturesquely. He sought the flag with the 
greatest avidity for freedom ; flocking in crowds, old men and young, women 
and children, sometimes with quaint odds and ends of personal belongings, 
often empty-handed, always enthusiastic and hopeful, almost always densely 
ignorant of the meaning of freedom and of self-support. But while the negro 
showed this avidity for liberty, his conduct toward his old masters was often 
generous, and almost never did he seize the opportunity to inflict vengeance for 
his past wrongs. The eloquent .Southern orator and writer, Henry W. Grady, 
said : " History has no parallel to the faith kept by the negro in the South during 
the war. Often five hundred negroes to a single white man, and yet through 
these dusky throngs the women and children walked in safety and the 
unprotected homes rested in peace. . . A thousand torches A\'ould have 
disbanded every Southern army, but not one was lighted." 

It was with conditions, and only after great hesitation, that the final step of 
emancipating the slaves was taken by President Lincoln in -September, 1862. 
The proclamation was distinctly a war measure, but its reception by the North 
and by the foreign powers and its immediate effect upon the contest were such 
that its expediency was at once recognized. Thereafter there was possible no 
question as to the personal freedom of the negro in the United States of 
America. With the Confederacy, slavery went down once and forever. In the 
so-called reconstruction period which followed, the negro suffered almost as 
much from the over-zeal of his political friends as from the prejudice of his old 
masters. A negro writer, who is a historian of his race, has declared that the 
Government gave the negro the statute book when he should have had the 
spelling book ; that it placed him in the legislature when he ought to have been 
in the school house, and that, so to speak, "the heels were put where the brains 
ought to have been." A quarter of a century and more has passed since that 
turbulent period began, and if the negro has become less prominent as a political 
factor, all the more for that reason has he been advancing steadily though slowly 
in the requisites of citizenship. He has learned that he must, by force of 
circumstances, turn his attention, for the time at least, rather to educational, in- 
dustrial, and material progress than to political ambition. And the record of 
his advance on these lines is promising and hopeful. In Mississippi alone, for 
instance, the negroes own one-fifth of the entire property in the State. In all, 
the negroes of the South to-day possess two hundred and fifty million dollars' 
worth of property. Everywhere throughout the South white men and negroes 
may be found working together. 

At the beginning of the war the negro population of the country was about 
four millions, to-day it is between seven and seven and a-half millions ; in 1880, 
fifteen-si.xteenths of the whole colored population belonged to the Southern 
States, and the census of 1890 shows that the proportion has not greatly changed. 



2oS THE FREE NEGRO. 

This ratio in itself shows how absurdly trifling in results have been all the move- 
ments toward colonization or emigration to Northern States. The negro 
emphatically belongs to the Southern States, and in them and by them his future 
must be determined. Another point decided conclusively by the census of 1890 
is seen in the refutation of an idea based, indeed, on the census of 1880, but 
due in its origin to the very faulty census of 1870. This idea was that the 
colored population had increased much more rapidly in proportion than the 
white population. The new census shows, on the contrary, that the whites in 
the Southern States increased during the last decade nearly twice as rapidly as 
the negroes, or, as the census bulletin puts it, in increase of population, "the 
colored race has not held its own against the white man in a region where the 
climate and conditions are, of all those which the country affords, the best suited 
to its development." 

The promise of the negro race to-day is not so much in the development 
of men of exceptional talent, such as Frederick Douglas or Senator Bruce, as 
in the general spread of intelligence and knowledge. The Southern States have 
very generally given the negro equal educational opportunities with the whites, 
while the eagerness of the race to learn is shown in the recently ascertained 
fact that while the colored population has increased only twenty-seven per cent, 
the enrollment in the colored schools has increased one hundred and thirty-seven 
per cent. Fifty industrial schools are crowded by the colored youth of the 
South. Institutions of higher education, like the Atlanta University, and 
Hampton Institute of Virginia, and Tuskegee College, are doing admirable work 
in turning out hundreds of negroes fitted to educate their own race. Within a 
year or two honors and scholarships have been taken by half a dozen colored 
young men at Harvard, at Cornell, at Phillips Academy and at other Northern 
schools and colleges of the highest rank. The fact that a young negro, Mr. 
Morgan, was in 1890 elected by his classmates at Harvard as the class orator 
has a special significance. Yet there is greater significance, as a negro news- 
paper man writes, in the fact that the equatorial telescope now used by the 
Lawrence University of Wisconsin was made entirely by colored pupils in the 
School of Mechanical Arts of Nashville, Tenn. In other words, the Afro- 
American is finding his place as an intelligent worker, a property owner, and 
an independent citizen, rather than as an agitator, a politician or a race advocate. 
In religion, superstition and effusive sentiment are giving way to stricter morality. 
In educational matters, ambition for the high-sounding and the abstract is giving 
place to practical and industrial acquirements. It will be many years before 
the character of the negro, for centuries dwarfed and distorted by oppression 
and ignorance, reaches its normal growth, but that the race is now at last upon 
the right path and is being guided by the true principles cannot be doubted. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



209 



Says one who has made an exceedingly thorough personal study of the subject 
in all the Southern States : "The evolution in the condition has kept pace with 
that of any other races, and I think has been even a little better The same 
forces of evolution that have broutjht him to where he is now will brina him 
further. One thing is indisputable : the negro knows his destiny is in his own 
hands. He finds that his salvation is not through politics, but through indus- 
trial methods. 




STATUE ot WASHINGTON IN THE GROUNDS OF THE STATE HuUbE, RICHMOND. 



The Story of Our Great Civil War. 



It would be a mistake to sup- 
pose that secession sentiments orig- 
inated and were exclusively main- 
tained in the Southern States. 
Ideas of State sovereignty and of 
the consequent right of a State to 
withdraw from the Union, or at 
least to resist the acts and laws of 
Congress on adequate occasion, 
were held by many statesmen in 
the North as well as in the South. 
Thus the " Essex Junto," which had 
openly advocated a dissolution of 
the Union and the tormation ot an 
Eastt^rn Confederacy, were foremost 
in assembling a convention of the 
Federalists on December 15, 18 14, 
at Hartford, Connecticut, at which 
resolutions were passed recom- 
mendino- the State Legislatures to 
resist Congress in conscripting soldiers for carrying on the war then being 
wao-ed against Eneland. Threats of disunion were again heard in 1821, but this 
time from the South, in case Missouri should be denied admission to the Union 
on account of her unwillingness to surrender the institution of slavery. Once 
more, in 1832, a South Carolina convention proceeded to declare the tariff of the 
United States null and void within her own borders ; but, owing to the decisive 
action of President Jackson, the State authorities did not venture into an actual 
collision with Congress. 

But the agitation in favor of disunion reached culmination under the 
aggressive efforts by the South to extend slavery into new Territories, and 
the determination by the North to confine it stricdy within the States where it 
already existed. With the formation of anti-slavery societies in the North, the 

210 




THE STORY OF AMERICA. 2ii 

nomination of anti-slavery candidates for the Presidency from 1840 onward, the 
passage of the "Wilmot Proviso" in 1846, the repeal of the Missouri compromise 
in 1854, the Dred-Scott decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1S57, the 
adoption of the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas in 1859, and the raid by John 
Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859, it became painfully evident that Mr. Seward's 
prediction of an " irrepressible conflict " between the North and South on the 
subject of slavery was becoming, had already become, a reality. 

As to John Brown's raid we have only to recount that on the i6th of Octo- 
ber, 1859, he took an armed force to Harper's Ferry, capturing the arsenal and 
armory and killing the men on guard. He was then endeavoring to secure 
arms for operating against the South. He was, however, captured and executed 
December 2, 1S59. The e.xpedition, it is unnecessary to say, was foolhardy 
and wholly without justification, and Brown paid for his misguided zeal with 
his life. But it must be said of him that he was conscientious, and that by 
his reckless daring he helped to crystallize sentiment on both sides of the 
slavery question. 

The election in i860 of Abraham Lincoln as President, on the platform of 
resistance to all further extension of slavery, was the signal for the previous 
disunion oratory and menaces to crystallize themselves into action. .Seven 
States, in the following order, viz. : South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, 
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, seceded, and by a Congress held at 
Montgomery, Ala., February 4, 1861, formed a Confederacy with Jefferson Davis, 
of Mississippi, as President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, as Vice- 
President. 

The reasons avowed for this perilous course were, "the refusal of fifteen 
of the States for years past to fulfill their constitutional obligations, and the 
election of a man to the high office of President of the United States whose 
opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." 

After Mr. Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, the Confederacy was 
increased by the addition of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee ; 
Kentucky and Missouri, being divided in opinion, had representatives and armies 
in both sections. 

The eleven "Confederate States of America" took from the Union nearly 
one-half of its inhabited area, and a population of between five and six millions 
of whites and about four millions of slaves. Their entire force capable of 
active service numbered 600,000 men. The twenty-four States remaining loyal 
to the Union had a population of 20,000,000, and the army at the close of the 
war numbered 1,050,000 ; but as the majority of these were scattered on guard 
duty over a vast region, only 262,000 were in fighting activity. Whilst the North 
was more rich and powerful, it was, nevertheless, more inclined to peace. The 
South was of a military spirit, accustomed to weapons, and altogether eager for 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



213 



the fra\ . The soldiers of both sides were 
equally orave, resolute, heroic, and devoted 
to what they respectively deemed a patriotic 
cause. 

The Confederates had the advantage in 
the outset, because Mr. Floyd, the Secretary 
of War under President Buchanan, 
had dispersed the r<_ j^ular army, com- 
prising 16,402 officers and men, to 
distant parts of the country where 
they were not available, and had sent 
off the vessels of the navy to foreign 
stations. 

Many of the old army offi- 
cers had passed over to the 
ate service, and vast quantities 
pons and ammunition had been 
ed from Northern to 
arsenals now in pos- 
the seceded States, 
the army at Indian 
been surrendered on 







'kJt 







THE ARTS OF PEACE AND THE ART OF WAR. 



Confeder- 

of wea- 

transferr- 

Southern 

session of 

A part of 

ola had 

ary 18, 1861, 

by General Twiggs, 

to the Confederates, 

and other soldiers 

CTuardingr our Mexi- 

^'y^-Vi'N *.(j([i) can and Indian fron- 

i"%\ fl\]ii'''ll'..''ll/ ■ 1 

"' "• ^ tiers were captured, 

besides several na- 
tional vessels and fortresses. 
The South was, in short, 
much better prepared for the 
great conflict, and during the 
first year the preponderance 
of success was in its favor. 

The Confederates 
opened the war on April 1 2, 
1 86 1, by bombarding Fort 
Sumter, which had been 
occupied by Major Robert 
Anderson and a company 
of eighty men. This fort, 



214 McCLELLAN. 

although fiercely pounded by cannon balls and shells and set on fire several 
times, was gallantly held for two days, when it was obliged to surrender ; 
but its brave defenders were allowed to march out saluting the old flag, 
and to depart for the North without being regarded as prisoners of war. 
The attack on Sumter created the wildest excitement throughout the entire 
land, and it opened the eyes of the North to the amazing fact of a civil war. 
A wave of patriotism, as mighty as it was sudden, swept over the United 
States. President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers for three months, 
and soon after another call for 64,000 men for the army and 18,000 for 
the navy, to serve during the war. The need for these calls was urgent 
enough. On April 20th the Confederates easily captured the great Norfolk 
Navy Yard, with three or four national vessels, including the frigate " Merri- 
mac," which subsequently wrought such fearful havoc at Hampton Roads, 
2000 cannon, besides small arms, munitions, and stores of immense value, all 
of which were given up without a shot in defense. The arsenal at Harper's 
Ferry, with millions of dollars' worth of arms and ammunition, was also in their 
possession ; and before the end of April 35,000 of their soldiers were already 
in the field, whilst 10,000 of these were rapidly marching northward. General 
R. E. Lee had been appointed Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of 
Virginia, and the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts militia had been savagely 
mobbed in the streets of Baltimore v.'hilst going to the protection of Washington. 

A Unionist attack on the Confederates at Big Bethel, Va., was repulsed, 
but the Confederates were driven out of Western Virginia by General G. B. 
McClellan. Then came, on July 21, the engagement at Bull Run, known also as 
that of Manassas Junction, one of the most significant battles of the war. 
General Irwin McDowell, acting under instructions of General Scott, marched 
against the Confederate army under General Beauregard, and in the outset met 
with encouraging success ; but just as the L^nionists imagined the victory theirs 
they were vigorously pressed by reinforcements that had come hurriedly up 
from Winchester under the leadership of General Johnston ; and being ex- 
hausted from twelve hours of marching and fighting under a sultry sun, they 
began a retreat which was soon turned into a panic, attended with wild disorder 
and demoralization. Had the Confederates, among whom at the close of the 
day was President Davis himself only known the extent of their triumph, they 
might have followed it and possibly have seized Washington. About 30,000 
men fought on each side. The Confederate loss was 378 killed, 1489 wounded, 
and 30 missing. The Unionists lost 481 killed, loii wounded, and 1460 
missing, with 20 cannon and large quantities of small arms. 

From this moment it was understood that the struggle would be terrible, 
and that it might be long, not to say doubtful. Congress, then in extra session, 
authorized the enlistment of 500,000 men and the raising of $500,000,000. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



215 



Many of die States displayed intense patriotism, New York and Pennsylvania, 
for example, appropriating each 5^3,000,000, whilst Massachusetts and other New 
England States sent regiments fully equipped into the field. General McClellan 
was summoned to reorganize and discipline the multitudes of raw recruits that 
were thrown suddenly on his hands. His ability and thoroughness were of 
immense value in preparing them for their subsequent effective service, and he 
was soon after made Commander-in-chief in place of General Scott, retired. 
The South was also laboring with tremendous zeal and energy in the endeavor 
to enlist 400,000 men. 




FORT MOULTRIE, CHARLESTON, WITH FORT SUMTER IN THE DISTANCE. 

Early in August the death of General Nathaniel Lyon whilst attacking the: 
Confederate General Ben. McCulloch at Wilson's Creek, and the retreat of his 
army, threw all Southern Missouri into the hands of the enemy. A few days 
after. General Butler took Forts Hatteras and Clark, with 700 prisoners, 1000 
muskets, and other stores. But victories alternated, for now General Sterling 
Price surrounded and captured the Unionist Colonel Mulligan and his Irish 
brigade of 2780, at Lexington, Mo. Worse, however, than this was the neaf 
annihilation. October 21st, of a Unionist force of 1700 under General C. P. Stone 
and Colonel E, D. Baker at Ball's Bluff. The noble Baker and 300 of the men 



2l6 



VICTORY AND DEFEAT. 



were slain and over 500 taken prisoners. Ten days later Commodore S. F. 
Dupont, aided by General T. W. Sherman with 10,000 men, reduced the 
Confederate forts on Hilton Head and Phillips' Island and seized the adjacent 
Sea Islands. General Fremont, unable to find and engage the Confederate 
General Price in the West, was relieved of his command of 30,000 men ; but 
General U. S. Grant, by capturing the Confederate camp at Belmont, Mo., 
checked the advance of General Jeff. Thompson. On the next day, November 
8th, occurred a memorable event which imperiled the peaceful relations between 




BATTLE OK PITTSBURG LANDING. 



the United States and Great Britain. Captain Wilkes of the United States 
frio-ate, "San Jacinto," compelled the British mail steamer, "Trent," to give up two 
of her passengers, the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who were 
on their way respectively to England and France in the interest of the South. 
A foreign war midit have resulted had not Mr. William H. Seward, the astute 
Secretary of State, promptly disavowed the act and returned the Commissioners 
to English keeping. General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Third Pennsylvania 
Brigade, gained a victory on December 2'^th at Dranesville over the Confederate 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 217 

brigade of General J. E. P). Stuart, who lost 230 soldiers, and during the same 
month General Pope reported the capture of 2500 prisoners in Central Missouri, 
with the loss of only 100 men ; but 1000 of these were taken by Colonel Jeff C. 
Davis by surprising the Confederate camp at Milford. 

The year 1S62 was marked by a series of bloody encounters. It opened 
with a Union army of 450,000 against a Confederate army of 350,000. The 
fighting began at Mill Spring, in Southern Kentucky, on January 19th, with an 
assault by the Confederates led by General F. K. ZoUicoffer, acting under 
General G. B. Crittenden. They were routed by General George H. Thomas, 
ZoUicoffer being killed and Crittenden flying across the Cumberland River, 
leaving ten guns and 1500 horses. This victory stirred the heart of the nation, 
and brought at once into brilliant prominence the great soldier and noble 
character whose greatnes blazed out like a sun at the close of the war. 

Another blow was soon struck. Brigadier General Grant, with i c:,ooo 
troops, supported by Commodore A. H. Foote with seven gunboats, reduced Fort 
Henry on the Tennessee River and took its commander. General L. Tilghman, 
prisoner, but could not prevent the greater portion of the garrison from 
escaping to Fort Donelson, twelve miles to the east. This stronghold, com- 
manding the navigation of the Cumberland River and containing 15,000 
defenders under General J. B. Floyd, was regarded as impregnable. It fell, 
however, on February i6th, under a combined attack of Grant and Foote, 
surrendering 12,000 men and 40 cannon. Generals Floyd and Buckner, with a 
few of their command, managed to escape across the river by night, and General 
N. B. Forrest, with 800 cavalry, also got away. This splendid achievement 
threw Nashville and all Northern Tennessee into possession of the Unionists, 
and caused the immediate evacuation of the Confederate camp at Bowling 
Green, Kentucky. 

In the East, about the same time. General Burnside and Commodore 
Goldsborough, with 11,500 men on 31 steamboats, captured, with a loss of 300, 
Roanoke Island, N. C, and 2500 Confederates. On March 14th they carried 
New Bern by assault, losing 600 but taking 2 steamboats, 69 cannon, and 500 
prisoners ; and ne.xt they seized Fort Macon, with its garrison of 500 and stores. 
But the Unionist Generals Reno and Foster were repulsed, respectively, at 
South Mills and Goldsborough. One of the most notable of naval engagements 
took place on March 8th and 9th, when the Confederate ironclad, " Virginia," 
known better by her original name, the " Merrimac," steamed out from Norfolk 
attended by two gunboats. She plunged her iron ram into the Union frigate, 
"Cumberland," causing her to sink and to carry down part of her crew; she 
blew up the " Congress," another Union frigate, destroying more than half of her 
crew of 434, drove the frigate "Lawrence" under the guns of Fortress Monroe, 
and bombarded until dusk with terrific energy, aided also by her gunboats, the 



2l8 



MONITOR AND MERRIMAC. 



Union steam frlo-ate " Minnesota," which had pfot agrrouncl. She seemed 
destined on the next day to work immeasurable and unimpeded havoc. But, 
providentially, during the night the Union "Monitor," looking like " a cheese 
box on a raft," which had been built by Captain Ericsson and was commanded 
with consummate skill by Lieutenant J. L. Worden, steamed into the roadstead 
on her trial trip from New York. When, therefore, the " Merrimac " approached 
for new conquests the following morning her surprise was tremendous upon 
meeting such a strange craft. An unwonted and dramatic naval duel now 




ANTIETAM BRIDGE. 



occurred, from which the Confederate ram retired badly crippled and was soon 
afterward blown up to prevent her being captured. The "Monitor" was, 
unfortunately, lost .some months afterward, in a storm off Hatteras. 

The smoke had not vanished from Hampton Roads before news came of 
an assault at Pea Ridge by from 16,000 to iS,ooo Confederates, including 5000 
Indians, under General E. Van Dorn, on 10,500 Unionists under General S. R. 
Curtis, supported by Generals Asboth and Sigel. After three days of severe 
fighting, in which 1351 Unionists fell, the Confederates fled with precipitation. 



THE. STORY OF AMERICA. 219 

leaving Generals B. McCulloch and Mcintosh dead and having Generals Price 
and Slack among their wounded. 

General McClellan having raised his 200,000 or more men to a high degree 
of efficiency, transferred considerably more than half of them to Fortress Monroe 
for the purpose of advancing on Richmond by way of the peninsula between the 
York and James Rivers. He left General Banks with 7000 soldiers to guard 
the Virginia Valley. This force, at that time under the command of General James 
Shields, because Banks had gone temporarily to Washington, was fiercely assailed 
at Kernstown by ".Stonewall" Jackson at the head of 4000 men. Jackson 
was repulsed with a loss of 1000, whilst Shields lost 600. McClellan's advance 
was checked for a month by Confederate batteries at Warwick Creek and again 
at Williamsburg by General Magruder's works. Here General Hooker's division 
fought well for nine hours with heavy losses. Magruder, flanked by Hancock, 
whose two brigades fought bravely, was obliged to retreat, leaving 700 of his 
wounded. The Unionists lost altogether 2228, whilst the Confederates lost not 
quite so many. 

In the meantime, on April 6th, General Grant, with an army of 40,000, was 
surprised at Pittsburg Landing by 50,000 Confederates under General A. S. 
Johnson. General Grant, instead of being with his troops, was on a boat near 
Savannah, seven miles below. The Union forces were completely surprised. 
No intrenchments or earthworks of any kind had been erected — there were no 
abattis. ' The Union forces, surprised, were rapidly driven back with heavy loss in 
guns, killed, wounded, and prisoners, from .Shiloh Church to the bluffs of the 
Tennessee, under which thousands of demoralized men took refuge. General 
Albert S. Johnson had been killed in the midst of the battle and General 
Beauregard succeeded to the command. Had General Johnson been alive the 
result might have been different ; but Beauregard was in command, and he 
missed the one opportunity of his life in resting on his arms when he should 
have pressed the enemy to the river and forced a surrender. But relief was at 
hand, and under a leader who was a master general on the field. Sunday 
night General Don Carlos Buell arrived on the scene with a part of the Army 
of the Ohio. Moving General Nelson's division across the Tennessee in boats, 
he had them in position by seven o'clock in the evening, ready for the onset 
in the morning. Two more divisions were crossed early in the morning. At 
seven o'clock the attack was begun. General Buell leading his troops in 
person and General Grant advancing with his troops, yesterday overwhelmed 
by defeat, to-day hopeful and confident. The result is well known. Buell's 
fresh troops, handled in a masterly manner, were irresistible. By four o'clock 
the enemy lost all they had gained and were in full retreat, and the day 
was won. General Buell receiving unstinted praise for his victory. The 
Union loss was 1735 killed, 7S82 wounded, and 3956 missing; total, 13,573. 



2 20 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

The Confederates' loss was 1728 killed, 8012 wounded, 957 missing; total, 
10,699. 

About the same date General Pope and Commodore Foote captured Island 
No. 10, with 6700 Confederates under Brigadier General Makall ; and soon after 
Memphis surrendered to the Unionists, and on April nth Fort Pulaski fell 
before a bombardment by General O. A. Gilmore. This same month was notable 
for naval victories. Admiral Farragut with a fleet of forty-seven armed vessels 
and 310 guns stormed the Confederate Forts St. Philip and Jackson, destroyed 
various fire-rafts and gunboats, and after a series of brilliant actions compelled 
the Confederate General Lovell with 3000 defenders to withdraw from New 
Orleans, leaving it to be occupied by 15,000 Unionists under General Butler. 
In the words of another, this "was a contest between iron hearts in wooden 
vessels, and iron clads with iron beaks, and the iron hearts prevailed." 

McClellan's army — a part of which had been thrown across the Chicka- 
hominy — was savagely attacked on May 28th, at Fair Oaks, by General Joseph 
E. Johnston, now Commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces. Although 
Johnston was badly wounded and his troops after a day of hard fighting were 
obliged to retire, yet the Union loss was 5739, including five colonels killed and 
seven crenerals wounded. McClellan was now reinforced until he had altoo^ether 
156,828 men, of whom 1 15, 162 were in good condition for effective service. Noth- 
ing, however, was accomplished until General Lee, who had succeeded the dis- 
abled Johnston, forced the fighting on June 26th that led to six horrible battles on 
as many successive days, known as those of Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, Gaines's 
Mills, .Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. In the last one 
the Confederates were signally defeated by McClellan with a loss of 10,000, 
while the Union loss was about 5000. During those six battles the Union loss 
was 1582 killed, 7709 wounded, and 5958 missing, making a total of 15,249. 
The Confederate loss was perhaps double ; General Griffith and three colonels 
killed. Nevertiieless, McClellan's campaign was unsuccessful ; Richmond was 
not taken ; and by order of the President he retreated to the Potomac. 

General Halleck now became Commander-in-chief and a vigorous campaign 
was opened by the Unionist General Pope. He was met in several stubbornly 
fought actions by the Confederates under Generals Lee, Jackson, and Long- 
street, and was badly routed. * In this bloody affair, known as the second battle 
of Bull Run, the Unionists lost 25,000, including 9000 prisoners ; the Con- 

*In accounting for his defeat General Pope attempted to fix the blame upon General Fitz John 
Porter, a very able and successful commander, charging that he failed to support him, and a court- 
martial convened in the heat of the discussion cashiered the General. But later, in deference to public 
opinion, the case was reopened, the previous unjust verdict was set aside, and General Porter's good 
name was cleared, his conduct being fully justified — an acquittal in entire accord with the ripei 
second thought of public opinion. 



LEE. 221 

federates lost 15,000. General Lee, on September Sth, invaded Maryland, 
where at South Mountain he was worsted by McClellan, who lost heavily of his 
own men, but took 1500 prisoners. 

A few days later Harper's Ferry, with 11,583 Unionists, 73 guns, and 
immense quantities of war munitions, was surrendered to Stonewall Jackson. 
McClellan, with 
80,000 men at- 
tacked Lee, posted 
with 70,000 on a 
ridge facing Antie- 
tam Creek. This 
determined batde 
ended in Lee's de- 
feat and retreat. 
McClellan lost 
2010 men killed, 
94 1 6 wounded, and 



1043 

total of 12,469. Lee 
lost 1842 killed, 
9399 wounded, and 
2292 missinof ; to- 

tal, i3i533- This 
is regarded as the 
bloodiest day in the 
history of America. 
There is little 
doubt that had Mc- 
Clellan followed 
up his magnificent 
victory he could 
have entered Rich- 
mond. Here was 
his mistake ; but 
this did not justify 
the Government in 



missine 




GENERAL ROBERT EDiMUND LEE. 



retiring him as it did. Surely McClellan's great victory entided him to the 
further command ; but the opposition, especially that of Secretary Stanton was 
too powerful, and he was retired. 

General Burnside, having succeeded McClellan, assailed Lee at Fredericks- 
burg, December 13th, but was disastrously beaten. His loss was 1152 kille-i 



222 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

9101 wounded, 3234 missing ; total, 13,771. The Confederate loss was about 
5000. General Burnside was relieved in favor of General Hooker in January, 
1863, who — having received reinforcements until his army amounted to 100,000 
infantry, 13,000 cavalry, and 10,000 artillery — assumed the offensive against Lee 
on May 2d, 1863, at Chancellorsville, but was terribly defeated. He lost 17,197 
man. His defeat was due to a brilliant rear and flank movement executed by 
Stonewall (ackson, who thus demolished the Eleventh Corps but was himself 
slain. lackson's death might well be regarded as an irreparable disaster to the 
Confederate cause. 

Lee, with nearly 100,000 men, again marched northward, taking 4000 
prisoners at Winchester. He was overtaken, July ist, by the Union army, 
numbering 100,000, now under the command of General George G. Meade, at 
Gettysburg ; where a gallant and bloody battle was fought, lasting three days 
and ending in a great victory for the Unionists. One of the features of the 
batde was a gallant charge of Pickett's Confederate Brigade, when they faced a 
battery of 100 guns and were nearly annihilated. But it was all American 
bravery. They lost 2834 killed, 13,709 wounded, 6643 missing; total, 23,186. 
The total Confederate loss was 36,000. Had Meade known the extent of his 
triumph he might have followed and destroyed the retreating Lee, whose army 
in this campaign dwindled from 100,000 to 40,000. 

On the same memorable day, July 3d, Vicksburg, after having resisted 
many and determined assaults, and after finding its defenders on the south 
surprised and beaten in detail by Grant's army aided by Commodore Porter's 
naval operations, surrendered, closing a campaign in which Grant had taken 
:57,ooo prisoners, with arms and munidons for 60,000 men. His own loss was 
943 killed, 7095 wounded, and 537 missing; a total of 8515. These two 
notable victories were the turning points in the war. 

Meantime, in the West the war had been pursued during die year with 
varying fortunes. The Confederate General Forrest had captured 1 500 men 
at Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Kirby Smith had captured 5000 Unionists at Richmond, 
Ky. ; General Bragg had captured 4000 prisoners at Mumfordsville, Tenn. ; 
Generals McCook and Rousseau, having attacked the enemy without the orders 
of General Buell, and thinking, as General Buell said, to win a victory without 
his assistance, were defeated by General Bragg at Perryville, whose ^ loss was 
2300: our loss was 4340. General Rosecrans, with a loss of 782, whipped the 
Confederate General Price, at luka. Miss., whose loss was 1000 men. Rose- 
crans repulsed again the Confederates on September 17th at Corinth, inflicting 
a loss of 1423 killed and taking 2248 prisoners. His own loss was 2359 men. 
A brigade of 2000 Unionists was captured by John Morgan. A campaign of 
46,910 men under Rosecrans culminated in the batUe of Stone River, January 
2d, 1863, against Bragg, who was beaten and forced to retreat. The Unionist 




BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. JACKSON'S ATTACK ON THE RIGHT WING. 



2 24 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

losses were 1533 killed, 7245 wounded, 2800 missing; a total of 11,578. 
Bragg's loss was 9000 killed and wounded and over 1000 missing. The Con- 
federate \^an Dorn surprised and took prisoners 2000 men at Holly Springs, 
and at the same time took ^4,000,000 worth of stores. General Sherman was 
repulsed at Chickasaw Bayou with a loss of 2000 men ; but General J. A. Mc- 
Clernand reduced Fort Hindman, capturing 5000 prisoners and 17 guns, while 
his loss was only 977. Colonel Grierson made a famous raid with 1700 cavalry 
to Baton Rouge, cutting Confederate communications and taking 500 prisoners. 
At Milliken's Bend the Unionist General Dennis, having 1400, repelled an 
attack of the Confederate General H. McCulloch, the loss on either side being 
500. At Helena, Arkansas, the Unionist General B. M. Prentiss, with 4000, 
also repulsed General Holmes with 3646, of whom 1636 were lost. The Con- 
federate raider, Morgan, with a mounted force of 4000 men, invaded Ohio, 
July 7th, but was caught by gunboats and obliged to surrender. 

General Burnside, early in September, at Cumberland Gap, captured General 
Frazier with fourteen guns and 2000 men. Then came, on September 19th, the 
great battle of Chickamauga, between Rosecrans and Thomas with 55,000 men 
on one side, and Brasfo- and Lono-street with about the same number on the other 
side. Longstreet annihilated Rosecrans' right wing ; but Thomas by his firmness 
and skill saved the day. The Confederates lost 18,000, while the Union loss was 
1644 killed, 9262 wounded, 4945 missing ; total, 15,581. Our army fell back on 
Chattanooga. Longstreet's attempt, Nov. 28th, to dislodge Burnside from Knox- 
ville resulted in his own loss of 800 and retreat. The Unionists lost 100 men. 

On September 2 2d to 24th the forces of General George H. Thomas, rein- 
forced by General Sherman, under the command of Grant, assaulted Bragg's 
army on Mission Ridge, facing Chattanooga. General Sherman crossed the 
Tennessee to attempt a flank movement but was repulsed. General Hooker 
moved up Lookout Mountain and drove the Confederates before him, capturing 
men and guns. Then General G. H. Thomas, in accordance with his original 
plan of battle, moved his army by the front directly up the heights of Mission 
Ridge, assailing the enemy in the ver)' teeth of his batteries. The fight was 
desperate, but Thomas's forces won, driving the enemy, making many prisoners 
and capturing many guns. The Union losses were 757 killed. 4529 wounded, 
330 missing ; total, 5616. There were 6142 prisoners captured from the enemy. 

During this time Charleston, which had inaugurated the Rebellion, pluckily 
resisted all attempts to take it. For example, her defenders beat back 6000 
Unionists with a loss of 574 men at Secessionville June i6th. Again, they dis- 
abled two of the blockading gunboats on January ist, 1863 ; again, they forced 
nine bombarding iron-clads under Commodore Dupont to retire ; again, they 
repulsed from Fort Wagner a storming party under General Gilmore, inflicting 
a loss of 1500, while their loss was but 100 men ; again, while obliged to evacuate 



A GREAT FIGHT. 



225 



Fort Wagner, leaving 18 guns there, and 
seven guns in Battery Gregg, they re- 
pulsed the Unionists' attempt to scale 
Fort Sumter and slew 200 men. 

Nor did the Unionists fare better 
in Florida. They lost under 
General T. .Seymour 2000 of 
his 6000 troops at Olustee, 
where the Confederates lost 
but 730 men. The Unionists 
again lost 
1600 out of 
2000 men 
under Gen. "~ 



Wessels at 
Plymouth, 
North Caro- 




KETREAT OF LEE'S ARMY, 



ina, when 
the Confed- 
erate General Hoke's loss 
was but 300 men. 

In the Southwest, 
however, the Unionists' 
cause had gained con- 
siderable advantages un- 
der General Banks, having 
a command of 30,000 men. 
Aided by Commodore 
Farragut, at Alexandria, 
La., he drove General R. 
Taylor and captured 2000 
prisoners, several steam- 
boats, and 22 guns. His 
assault, however, on Port 
Hudson, in June, was re- 
pelled with a loss of 2000 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



22 7 



men, while the Confederates lost but 300 men. But Port Hudson, as it was about 
to be cannonaded by the gunboats set free by the fall of Vicksburg, was surren- 
dered, July 6th, by the Confederate General Gardener, with his garrison of 6408 
men. Banks' effective force had been reduced to 10,000. His total captures 
during the campaign were 10,584 men, 73 guns, and 6000 small arms. But 
Brashear City had some days before been surprised and captured by General R. 
Taylor (Confederate) with a Union loss of 1000 men and 10 guns. The Unionist 
General Dudley lost near Donaldsonville 300 prisoners, and again, the Unionist 
General Franklin with a fleet and 4000 men was repelled with a loss of two gun- 
boats, 15 guns, and 250 men, by less than that number within the fort at Sabine 
Pass, and at Teche Bayou the 67th Indiana Regiment was captured entire. 

The Red River expeditions in March and April, 1864, toward Shreveport 
under General Banks, from New Orleans, with a force of 40,000, and under 
General Steel, from Little Rock, with 12,000, were disastrous failures. The 
former had to retreat with a loss of about 5000, and the latter was also beaten 
back with a loss of 2200; but at Jenkins Ferry he repulsed the Confederate 
attack led by General Kirby Smith, with a loss of 2300. In August of this year 
(1864) Commodore Farragut executed one of the fiercest and most heroic 
naval combats on record. Having lashed himself to the mast of the Hartford, he 
advanced v>'ith a fleet of 14 wooden steamers and gunboats and four iron-clad 
monitors against Forts Morgan and Gaines, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, 
He ran the bows of his wooden \'essels full speed against the rebel iron-clad 
Tennessee, gaining a notable victory, which ended in the fall of the forts and 
the city of Mobile. 

General Grant was appointed Commander-in-chief of all the Union armies 
on March i, 1864. Having sent Sherman to conduct a campaign in the West, he 
himself on May 4 and 5, crossed the Rapidan for a direct southerly advance to 
Richmond. A campaign of 43 days followed, in which more than 100,000 men, 
frequently reinforced, were engaged on either side. He was met by Lee in the 
Wilderness, where, after two days of terrible slaughter, the battle ended without 
decided advantage to either side. Among the Unionists, General J. S. Wads- 
worth was killed and seven generals were wounded, the entire loss amount- 
ing to 20,000 men. The Confederates lost Sooo men, with Longstreet badly 
wounded. 

Finding Lee's position impregnable. Grant advanced by a flank movement 
to Spottsylvania Court House. Here, on May iith, Hancock, by a desperate 
assault, captured Generals Johnson and E. H. .Stewart, with 3000 men and 
30 guns, while Lee himself barely escaped. But no fighting, however desperate, 
could carry Lee's works. Sheridan with his cavalry nox^j made a dashing raid 
toward Richmond. He fought the Confederate cavalry, killed their General, 
J. E. B. Stuart, and ret rned, having suffered little damage, to Grant. General 



228 



A GREAT FIGHT. 



Butler with 30,000 men steamed up the James River and seized City Point, with 
the view of seizing Petersburg. He was, however, too slow, and in a fight with 
Beauregard, near Proctor's Creek, lost 4000 men, while the Confederates lost 
but 3000. 

General Grant reached, May 17th, the North Anna, where he gained some 
advantage, but as Lee was strongly intrenched, he moved on again to Cold 
Harbor. Here an assault on Lee ended with a Union loss of 1705 killed, 907'./ 
wounded and 2406 missing. Sheridan again raided Lee's rear, tore up rail- 
roads, and burnt stores, and after having lost 735 men he returned to Grant with 
370 prisoners. Grant now pressed on toward the James River ; assaults were 




ENTRANCE TO GETTYSBURG CEMETERY. 



made on Petersburg with a loss of many killed and 5000 prisoners. The 
Unionist General Wilson, with 8000 cavalry, while tearing up the Danville 
railroad, lost 1000 prisoners. 

Another attempt to take Petersburg by a mine explosion resulted in a 
Unionist loss of 4400 and Confederate loss of 1000. A series of gallant 
attacks by the Unionists were as gallantly repulsed. Thus Hancock assailed 
Lee's left wing below Richmond, losing 5000 men. Warren seized the Weldon 
Railroad, at the expense of 4450, while the Confederates lost but 1200. Han- 
cock's attempt to seize Ream's Station ended in his being driven back and 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 229 

losing 2400 men. Warren grasped the Squirrel Level Road at a cost of 2500 
men. Butler, however, took Port Harrison, with 1 1 5 guns, btit failed to take 
Fort Gilmore after a loss of 300. The Confederates, attempting to retake Fort 
Harrison, were beaten back with a heavy loss. The Union cavalry under Gen- 
eral Kautz advanced within five miles of Richmond, but were driven back with 
a ioss of 9 guns and 500 men. Hancock tried to turn the Confederate flank 
and took 1000 prisoners, but had to retire with a loss of 1500. 

Thus this campaign of 1S64 closed with a loss in the aggregate of 87,387 
men from the Army of the Potomac. 

In West \'irginia Sigel was routed at New Market by J. C. Breckinridge 
with a loss of six guns and 700 men. Hunter, succeeding Sigel, beat the Con- 
federates, June 8th, at Piedmont, killing General Jones and taking 1500 men, but 
was himself, with 20,000 men, soon after beaten at Lynchburg, and forced to a 
disastrous retreat over the Alleghanies to the Potomac. 

This opened the way for the Confederate, Early, w-ith 20,000 veterans, to 
n arch northward. With a loss of but 600 he defeated General Lew Wallace 
near Frederick, killing and capturing 2000 men. After threatening Baltimore 
and Washington he retreated South with 2500 captured horses and 5000 cattle. 
He also defeated at Winchester General Crook, whose loss was 1200. Shortly 
after the Unionist General Averill defeated B. F. Johnson's cavalry and took 
500 prisoners. 

Not long after, on September 19, 1864, Early, after a brilliant attack by 
Sheridan at Winchester, was routed, losing 6000 men, while the Unionists lost 
1000 less. At F'sher's Hill .Sheridan again routed him, taking 16 guns and 
1 100 prisoners; at Cedar Creek, while Sheridan was absent at Washington, 
Early made a sudden and determined assault, throwing the Unionists into a panic- 
stricken mob, capturing 24 guns and 1200 prisoners. Sheridan, by his famous 
ride of twenty miles, met his beaten army. He reorganized it, inspired it to 
make a general and magnificent attack, and won a great victory, recapturing 
his 24 guns, taking 23 more, and 1500 prisoners. The loss on either side 
was about 3000. 

In the Southwest General Sturgis (LInion) with 12,000 men routed General 
Forrest at Guntown, Miss., killing and capturing 4000. In East Tennessee 
the Confederate raider Morgan captured 1600 Unionists at Licking River, but 
was himself soon after chased away with a loss of half his force. During these 
operations General Sherman advanced (May 18, 1864) with 100,000 men from 
Chattanooga. He was stubbornly resisted by General J. E. Johnston with an 
army of 34,000. At Kenesaw Mountain Sherman lost 3000 men while the 
Confederates lost 442. He, however, kept flanking and fighting the Confed- 
erates until he reached Atlanta, during which two months the enemy had lost 
14,200 men; but reinforcements kept their numbers up to 51,000. During 



30 



SHERMAN'S MARCH. 



these movements the Confederate General Polk, who on accepting his commis- 
sion in the army had not resigned his position as a Bishop of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, was killed by a cannon ball while reconnoitring on Pine 
Mountain, a few miles north of Marietta. Hood succeeded Johnston, and 
aimed a heavy blow at Thomas, on Sherman's right, losing 4000 and inflicting 




LONGSTREEr REPORTING AT BRAGO'S HEADQUARTERS. 



a loss of but 1500. On the 2 2d occurred another great battle in which 
McPherson, a very superior Union general, was killed, and 4000 Unionists 
were lost. The Confederate loss was, however, not less than 8000. General 
Stoneman whilst raiding Hood's rear was captured, with 1000 of his cavalry. 
Hood, after suffering a heavy repulse by Logan, and another at Jonesboro 
by Howard, in the latter of which he lost 2000, and still another by J. C. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 231 

Davis, when Jonesboro and many guns and prisoners were taken frore 
him, retreated eastward, leaving Atlanta, September ist, to the Union victors 
Being reinforced, liowever, so as to have about 55,000 troops, he returned for 
an invasion of Tennessee. At Franklin, November 30th, he made a desperate 
onset against Schoheld, and was baffled, at an expense of 4500 men to himself 
and of 2320 to the Union. At Nashville, to which he laid siege, he was struck' 
by Thomas, December 15th, with great skill and determination during a two 
days' battle, and broken to pieces, having lost more than 13,000, besides seventy- 
two pieces of artillery. The Union loss was 10,000 during the campaign. In 
November and December .Sherman at the head of 65,500, including the cavalry 
protection of Kilpatrick, executed his famous march to the sea, i.e., from Atlanta 
to Savannah. His reward was 167 guns and 1328 prisoners and a demoralized 
South. The Confederate General Hardee, who had already evacuated Savan- 
nah, was obliged by a new advance of Sherman northward, February, 1865, 
to evacuate Charleston also, with 12,000 men. A cavalry engagement took 
place near the north line of South Carolina, between Kilpatrick and Wade 
Hampton, in which the former was surprised, but the latter finally beat him. 
Near Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 15th, he was attacked without success 
by Hardee, now acting under Joseph Johnston, having 40,000 men under his 
command ; and three days after at Bentonville by Johnston himself .Sherman 
lost 1643, but forced Johnston to retire, leaving 267 dead and 1625 prisoners 
and wounded. 

Fort Fisher, that protected the blockade runners at Wilmington, N. C, was 
bombarded by Commodore Porter and carried by assault by General A. H. 
Terry, January 16, 1865. This victory, purchased at a cost of 410 killed and 
536 wounded, threw into the Union hands 169 guns and 2083 prisoners. And 
Wilmington itself fell about one month later, under an attack by Schofield. 

General James H. Wilson, with 15,000 cavalry from the armies of Grant 
and Thomas, routed General Forrest at Selma, Ala., April 2d, capturing 22 
guns and 2700 prisoners and burning 125,000 bales of cotton. Soon after, he 
captured at Columbus, Ga., 52 guns and 1200 prisoners, besides burning a 
gunboat, 250 cars, and 115,000 cotton bales. He took Fort Tyler by assault, 
but ceased operations at Macon, Ga., because by that time the rebellion was 
crushed. 

General Grant resumed operations February 6, 1865, when he repulsed at 
Hatcher's Run, at a cost of 2000 troops, the Confederates, who lost 1000. 
General Sheridan with 10,000 cavalry routed Early, on March 2d, from Waynes- 
boro, taking i i guns and 1600 prisoners, and joined Grant at Petersburg after 
having passed entirely around Lee's army. An attack by Lee against Fort 
Stedman was repelled with a loss of 2500 to the Unionists and 4500 to the 
Confederates. 



232 LEE'S SURRENDER. 

Grant, fearing that Lee might attempt to evacuate Richmond, threw 
Warren's corps and Sheridan's cavalry to the southwest of Petersburg. 
Warren, after having his divisions broken by Lee but re-formed by the aid of 
Griffin, united with Sheridan, who had b'^en foiled the day before, April ist, at 
Five Forks. Warren and Sheridan ni,\v charged the Confederates' works, 
which were taken, along with 5000 prisoners. A general assault was made by 
the Union army at daylight, April 2d, when Ord's Corps (Union) carried Forts 
Gregg and Alexander by storm. A. P. Hill, a brilliant Confederate general, 
was shot dead. That night Lee evacuated Richmond, burning his warehouses 
filled with stores. General Weitzel, at 6 a.m. April 3d, entered the city with 
his men and was soon followed by President Lincoln. Petersburg was at the 
same time abandoned. Lee halted his army, now dwindled to 35,000 men, at 
Amelia Court House. Grant rapidly pursued. Ewell was severed from Lee's 
rear and became one among 6000 prisoners. Lee heroically pushed on to 
Appomattox Court House, where his flight was intercepted by Sherman marching 
from the South. Lee was inclined to renew the fighting against Sherman, but 
his weary and famished army stood no chance against the fearful odds around 
them. And Lee, to prevent further useless bloodshed, surrendered his army to 
Grant on April 9, 1865, within three days of four years after the rebellion had 
been opened by the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Bell ringing, triumphant 
salutes, and boundless joy throughout the United States hailed this event as the 
close of the war. Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman at Raleigh, N. C, 
April 26th, and Dick Taylor his, to Canby at Citronvllle, Ala., May 4th. The 
terms of the surrender were magnanimous : " Each officer and man was allowed 
to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the Lhiited States authority so 
long as they observed their paroles and the laws in force where they may 
reside." 

Jefferson Davis, the president of the now destroyed Confederacy, fled from 
Richmond at the time of its evacuation. Attended at first with a cavalry escort 
of 2000, which soon dwindled mostly away, he was making his way toward the 
coast, with his family and "a few faithful followers " when he was captured near 
Irwinsville, Georgia. After an imprisonment of two years in Fortress Monroe, 
he was released, and allowed to live without molestation, mourning the lost 
cause, until he died, December 6, 1889. 

The Union soldiers numbered during the war 2,666,999, of which 294,266 
were drafted, the rest being volunteers. The deaths on the field or from 
wounds amounted to 5221 officers and 90,868 men, while 2321 officers 182,329 
men died from disease or accident. The Confederate armies enrolled were 
600,000 men, of whom they lost more than one-half The Confederate cruisers, 
the "Alabama," "Florida," "Georgia," "Sumter," and "Tallahassee," most of 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



233 



which were fitted out m British ports, well nigh destroyed American commerce. 
The "Alabama," commanded by Raphael Semmes, went down off the French 
coast, June 19, 1864, in a memorable action with the U. S. S. " Kearsarge," 
commanded-by Captain Winslow. 

The greatest act of Abraham Lincoln was his Emancipation Proclamation, 
issued January i, 1863, giving freedom to 4,000,000 of slaves. 

And so ended the great internecine conflict, which has made us a stronsf, 
consolidated, free nation, never again, let us hope, to be given over to fraternal 
strife. 



.^t^ 






U-: 










s^^^^:^5.^f^^ 



Lessons and Recollections of the Civil War 
by the Old Soldier, Colonel A. K. ilcClure, 




S'^S'Jf'' 



Before all those who more or less 
actively participated in the civil or military 
events of our Civil War shall have passed 
away, it mii^ht be well to crystallize into 
history some of its forgotten lessons. 
The young student of to-day, who must 
turn to history tor all knowledge oi the dark 
cla\'s of the bloodiest civil war ot modern 
times, can be easily and fully informed as 
to all important political events and the 
many battles which were fought between 
the blue and the gray. But there are 
many facts and incidents connected with 
the origin and prosecution of that memo- 
rable conflict which have no place in the 
annals of history, but which e.\ercised a 
verv ereat, and at times a controlling, in- 
lUience in shaping the policy ot the Gov- 
ernment, and even in deciding the issues 
of the war itself. It is to some of these 
apparently forgotten lessons of the great conflict I propose to give a chapter 
that I hope may be entertaining and instructive. 

When we turn aside from the beaten historical paths to explore the forgot- 
ten issues and movements of more than tliirty years ago, we are startled at the 
magnitude of questions in those day« which seem now to be accepted as in- 
capable of controversy. The student of to-day only sees the fact that the 
issues between slavery and freedom were natural and irrepressible, and 
that in such a contest, with a vast preponderance of numbers, wealth, and 
physical and moral power, there could be but one result from such a 
struggle; but there are few to-day who have knowledge of the intrenched 
power of slavery, not only in our commercial cities, but also throughout 

234 



"■'^JPS'-tetiaji^ : 



I AM LINCOLN. 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



2.^5 



the whole business interests of the country, and it will doubtless surprise many 

readers when they are told that even as late as September, 1862, when the war 

had been in progress for nearly two years, scores of thousands of thoroughly 

loyal supporters of the Government in every State shuddered at the idea of 

Emancipation. It will be equally sur- „ •• 

prising to the students of American ,^. ft€,f,,^..^ %"-■- ;;■ 

history to-day to learn that the great 

mass of the people of both sections 

of the country were so . 

profoundly interested in 




'V/ 



m$^''^f 



THE SWAMP ANGEL E\TTERY BOMPARDING CHARLESTON. 



- averting fraternal conflict that only the 
* madness of the secession leaders forced 

the North to unite in the support of the war by wantonly firing upon the 
starving and helpless garrison of Fort Sumter when its peaceable surrender 
could have been accomplished within a few hours thereafter. So general and 
deep-seated was the avers-ion to war in the North, that had the Government 



236 



RELUCTANCE OF THE NORTH TO FIGHT. 



commenced hostilities, even after the capture of the national forts and arsenals 
which had been seized by the insurgents, the North would have been hope- 
lessly divided on the question of supporting the Government. 

While it is probable that the slavery issue would have culminated in civil 
war some time during the present century, I feel entirely warranted in assuming 




GENEKAL SHERIDAN TURNING DEFEAT INTO VICTORY AT CEDAR CREEK. 

that the sectional conflict begun in 1861 would not have reached an appeal to 
the sword but for the fact that both sections mutually believed the other incapa- 
ble of accepting civil war. Had the Northern and Southern people understood 
each other then as well as they understood each other after the soldiers of the 
blue and gray had exhibited their matchless heroism on so many battlefields, 
the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President would not have 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 237 

precipitated war. Civil war had been threatened by alarmists and agitators in 
and out of Congress for many years, and many of the Southern leaders grew 
offensively arrogant in discussing sectional issues during the debates in Con 
gress, for several years before the election of Lincoln. It was not uncommon 
for Northern men to be taunted as cowards because they refused to accept the 
code of honor, and finally, when the secession of States began, it was the 
almost universal belief throughout the South that the Northern people were 
mere money getters, and incapable of heroic action even in defense of their 
convictions. The South assumed that the North would not fight, because it was 
believed that the Northern people were so averse to fighting that they would 
submit even to dissolution of the government rather than risk their lives for its 
defense. On the other hand, the Northern people believed the Southerners to 
be led by bombasts who would take pause in their aggressive actions whenever 
compelled to face the fearful realities of actual war. 

I have never forgotten an incident that occurred in a party caucus in the 
Pennsylvania Legislature, held on the night after the surrender of Sumter. I 
was then a Senator and in political accord with the majority of both branches 
of the Legislature that heartily sustained President Lincoln. The occasion was 
so grave that the caucus met in secret session, and the first half dozen speeches 
ridiculed the idea of actual war, because the Southern people were bombasts 
and cowards, and some of the speakers boldly declared, that the Northern 
women could sweep away to the South of the Potomac, with their brooms, these 
blatant warriors. Having studied the situation both North and South, as Chair- 
man of the Military Committee of the Senate, I ventured to correct the errone^ 
ous impressions created by the speakers, saying that the Southerners were of 
our own blood and lineage, had shared all our heroism in the achievements 
of the past, and that if we should become involved in civil war, it would be one 
of the most desperate and bloody wars of history. My declaration that the South 
would fight as heroically as the North was hissed from every section of the caucus. 
How fearfully true my statements and predicdons were, was soon attested on the 
many battlefields, from the fir^^t Bull Run to Appomattox. No one then could 
have believed that the South would marshal and maintain an army of half a 
million men, to display the highest measure of heroism and sacrifice to overthrow 
the noblest government of the earth, and none could then have believed that 
the Northern people would furnish and maintain more than a million men during 
four long years of the bloodiest conflict, as the price of the perpetuity of the 
Republic. Had we known each other better then ; had we known that the 
soldiers of both the North and the South would make Grecian and Roman story 
pale before their heroism in fraternal conflict, I doubt not that the Civil War 
begun in 1861 would have been postponed for a future generation. 

The first gun fired against Sumter, on the I2th of April, 1861, sounded 
15 



238 THE FIRST OVERT ACTS. 

the death knell of the Southern Confederacy and of slavery ; and 
gun of the war been fired by Major Anderson, the commander of 
against any of the Confederate batteries erected to bombard him 
command, the North would have ■^^ 

been divided on the vital L 

issue of supporting the ^ 
Government, and even 
revolution j* 



had 
Fort 
and 



the first 
Sumter, 
his little 




in the North 
would have 
been more 
than possible. Mr. Lincoln was 
inaugurated on the 4th of March, 
and from that time until the 
bombardment of Sumter the 
provisional Confederate Govern- 
ment, then located at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, committed acts of war against the 
National Government, by seizing forts and 
arsenals, and by erecting batteries at Charleston, within range of Major 
Anderson's guns, to make his fort defenseless. With all these preparations 
for war on the part of the South, begun during the last three months of 



DEATH OF GENERAL POLK 



THE STORY OF A AMERICA. 239 

Buchanan's Administration and continued after Lincoln's inauguration, the 
Government was entirely helpless to defend its forts and property. The forts 
could not be reinforced because the small standing army at that day was 
utterly unequal to the task. Nine important forts in six Southern States were 
garrisoned by but a handful of men, without supplies in case of siege, or means 
of defense in case of assault from batteries whose construction could not be 
impeded, as to fire upon them would have been an act of war. The Govern 
ment was not only unable to man its forts and defend them and the arsenals 
of the South, but neither President Buchanan nor President Lincoln dared to 
call for an increase of the army. Had either of them done so, it would have 
been an open menace of war to coerce the rebellious States back into the 
Union ; it would have inflamed the South into precipitating the conflict, and 
would not have been sustained by the people in the North. 

Thus was the Government utterly helpless to hinder preparations for war 
by the new Confederacy. Many of the ablest and most patriotic men of both 
parties of the North doubted the right of the Government to coerce a State 
by the bayonet, and had either Buchanan or Lincoln called for an increase of 
the army, or attempted to recapture forts and arsenals seized by the -South, it 
would have been regarded as needlessly hastening a conflict that all hoped 
could be avoided. It was the midsummer madness of the Southern Confed- 
eracy in precipitating the war by firing upon the starved and feeble garrison of 
Sumter that obliterated the issue of "coercion," and that practically united the 
North in sustaining the Government in an aggressive war policy. So entirely 
were we unprepared for war, that the President had no authority to call out 
troops, even after Sumter had been fired upon, and the President's proclamation 
summoning 75,000 volunteers for three months' service had to be legalized by 
subsequent act of Congress. The discussion of the propriety or impropriety 
of war was summarily ended when war was actually declared by the Charleston 
batteries hurling their hot shot into Sumter ; and from that day until the sur- 
render of the Confederate armies, after the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands 
of lives and countless treasure, the North was inspired by its patriotism to 
prosecute the war until the Rebellion should be overthrown and the authority of 
the Government established in every State of the Union. 

Had the Confederate Government been content to hold the forts and 
arsenals it had seized without bloodshed, and waited for the General Govern- 
ment to precipitate war, the conflict would have been indefinitely postponed and 
the Confederacy would have become so strong by the passive assent of the 
Government to its establishment that its overthrow might have been impossible. 
Certain it is that if President Lincoln had opened the war by firing upon the 
Southern forces, except in defense of assailed Government troops, he could not 
have commanded anything approaching a united support from the Northern 



240 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

people ; he would have been fearfully censured as having wantonly engaged in 
a great war over issues that might have been adjusted peaceably by patience; 
and none can now assume to say what would have been the issue of such a con- 
flict with the North bitterly divided because of a sectional war precipitated by 
the aggressive action of the Government. It was the first gun fired against 
Sumter that crystallized the North, that gave Lincoln the power to summon 
patriotic armies to defend the Republic, and that assured, in the fullness of time 
the utter overthrow of the Confederacy and the re-establishment of the great 
American Republic without the blot of slavery upon its escutcheon. 

The naval warfare of the world was revolutionized in a single day by the 
battle between the " Merrimac" and the " Monitor" at Fortress Monroe, on the 
9th of March, 1862. It was the most sudden and startling revolution ever 
attained in methods of warfare, and it was a revelation to every nation of 
the earth. The United States steam frigate " Merrimac " was set on fire at the 
Gosport Navy Yard at the outbreak of the war, when hastily abandoned by 
the Federal navy officers. It was burned to the water's edge and sunk, but 
soon after the Confederates raised the hull, which was not seriously damaged, 
and its engines in yet reasonably good condition, and they hurriedly under- 
took the then original conception of converting it into an iron clad. A 
powerful prow of cast iron was attached to its stem, a few feet under water, 
and projecting sufficiently to enable it to break in the side of any wooden 
vessel. A low wooden roof two feet thick was built at an incline of about 
36 degrees, and this was plated with double iron armor, making a four-inch 
iron plating. Under this protection were mounted two broadside batteries 
of four guns each, and a gun at the stem and stern. The Government was 
soon advised of the raising of the hull of the " Merrimac," and without having 
detailed information on the subject, knew that a powerful iron-clad was 
being constructed. A board of naval officers had been selected by the 
Government to consider the various suggestions for the construction of 
iron-clad vessels, and although, as a rule, naval officers had little faith in the 
experiment, Congress coerced them into action by the appropriation of half 
a million dollars for the work. The Naval Board recommended a trial of 
three of the most acceptable plans presented, and they were put under 
contract. 

Among those who pressed the adoption of light iron-clads, capable of 
penetrating our shallow harbors, rivers, and bayous, was John Ericsson. 
He was a Swede by birth, but had long been an American citizen, and exhibited 
uncommon genius and scientific attainments in engineering. The vessel he 
proposed to build was to be only 127 feet in length, 27 feet in width, and 
1 2 feet deep, to be covered by a flat deck rising only one or two feet above 
water. The only armament of the vessel was to be a revolving turret, about 




ikw 



242 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

20 feet in diameter and nine feet high, made of plated wrought iron aggre- 
gating eight inches in thickness, with two eleven-inch Dahlgren guns. The 
guns were so constructed that they could be fired as the turret revolved, and 
the port-hole would be closed immediately after firing. The size of the 
" Merrimac" was well known to the Governrnent to be quite double the length 
and breadth of the " Monitor," but it had the disadvantage of requiring 
nearly double the depth of water in which to manoeuvre it. Various 
sensational reports were received from time to time of the progress made 
on the " Merrimac," the name of which was changed by the Confederates to 
" Virginia," and as we had only wooden hulls at Fortress Monroe to resist it, 
great solicitude was felt for the safety of the fleet and the maintenance of 
the blockade. While the Government hurried the construction of the new 
iron-clads to the utmost, little faith was felt that such fragile vessels as 
the " Monitor " could cope with so powerful an engine of war as the " Merrimac." 
The most formidable vessels of the navy, including the " Minnesota," the twin 
ship of the original "Merrimac," the "St. Lawrence," the "Roanoke," the 
"Congress," and the "Cumberland," were all there waiting the advent of the 
" Merrimac." 

On Saturday, the 8th of March, the " Merrimac " appeared at the mouth 
of the Elizabeth River and steamed directly for the Federal fleet. All the 
vessels slipped cable and started to enter the conflict, but the heavier ships soon 
ran aground and became helpless. The "Merrimac" hurried on, and after 
firing a broadside at the "Congress," crashed into the sides of the "Cumber- 
land," whose brave men fired broadside after broadside at their assailant only 
to see their balls grlance from its mailed roof An immense hole had been 
broken into the hull by the prow of the " Merrimac," and in a very few minutes 
the "Cumberland" sank in fifty feet of water, her last gun being fired when 
the water had reached its muzzle, and the whole gallant crew went to the bottom 
with their flag still flying from the masthead. The "Merrimac" then turned 
upon the " Congress." It was compelled to flee from such a hopeless struggle, 
and was finally grounded near the shore ; but the " Merrimac," selecting a 
position where her guns could rake her antagonist, after a bloody fight of more 
than an hour, with the commander killed and the ship on fire, the " Congress" 
struck her flag, and was soon blown up by the explosion of her magazine. 
Most fortunately for the Federal fleet, the " Merrimac " had not started out on 
its work of destruction until after midday. Its iron prow had been broken in 
breaching the " Cumberland," and after the fierce broadsides it had received 
from the "Congress" and the "Cumberland," with the other vessels firing 
repeatedly during the hand-to-hand conflict, the "Merrimac" was content to 
withdraw for the day, and anchored for the. night under the Confederate shore 
batteries on Sewall's Point. 



ADVENT OF THE "MONITOR." 



243 



The night of March 8th was probably the gloomiest period of the war. It 
was well known at Fortress Monroe and at Washington that the " Merrimac" 
would resume its work on the following day, and it was equally well known that 
there were neither vessels nor batteries 
to offer any serious resistance to its 
work. With the fleet destroyed and 
the blockade raised, not only Washin 
ton, but even New 
York, might be at the 
mercy of this new 
and invincible engine 
of war. There did not 
seem to be even a si 
ver lining to the dark 
cloud that hung over 
the Union cause ; but 




deliverance came 
most unexpectedly, as 
some time during the 
night the little "Moni- 
tor" was seen, by the light of 
the yet burning "Congress," 
towed into the waters of Hampton 
Roads. It was viewed with con- 
tempt by the naval officers and 
described as "a raft with a cheese 
box on top of it" ; but Lieutenant 
Worden, who commanded the 
little iron-clad, after beingr advised 
of the situation, boldly took his 
position, after midnight, near the 
still helpless " Minnesota," thus 
challenging the whole fury of the " Merrimac " upon the " Monitor." On 
Sunday morning, the 9th of March, the " Merrimac " sailed out defiantly to 
complete its work of destruction and thus make itself master of the capital, 

of New York, and, presumably, end the Richmond campaign then contem- 
o c 



MOIST WEATHER AT THE FRONT. 



244 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

plated, and the little "Monitor" sailed out boldly to meet it. The history of 
that conflict need not be repeated. To the utter amazement of the commander 
of the "Merrimac," the "Monitor" was impervious to its terrible broadsides, 
while its lightness and shallow draft enabled it to out-manceuvre its antagonist 
at every turn ; and while it did not fire one gun for ten of its adversary, its 
aim was precise and the " Merrimac " was materially worsted in the conflict 
After three hours of desperate battle the defiant and invincible " Merrimac " of the 
■ Jay before was compelled to give up the contest and retreat back to Norfolk. 

It was this single naval conflict, and the signal triumph of the little 
"Monitor," that revolutionized the whole naval warfare of the world in a single 
day, and from that time until the present the study of all nations for aggressive 
or defensive warfare has been the perfection of the iron-clad. To the people 
of the present time the iron-clad is so familiar, and its discussion so common, 
that few recall the fact that only thirty years ago it was unknown, and little 
dreamed of as an important implement of war. It is notable that neither of 
those vessels which inaugurated iron-clad warfare, and made it at once the 
accepted method of naval combat for the world, ever afterward engaged in 
battle during the three years of war which continued. The "Merrimac" was 
constantly feared as likely to make a new incursion against our fleet, but her 
commander never arain ventured to lock horns with the "Monitor" and the 
additional iron-clads which were soon added to the navy. Early in May the 
capture of Norfolk by General Wool placed the " Merrimac " in a position of 
such peril that on the nth of May, 1862, she was fired by her commander and 
crew and abandoned, and soon after was made a hopeless wreck by the explosion 
of her magazine. The fate of the "Monitor" was even more tragic. The 
following December, when being towed off Cape Hatteras, she foundered in a 
gale and went to the bottom with a portion of her officers and men ; but she 
had taught the practicability of ironclads in naval warfare, and when she went 
down a whole fleet was under construction after her own model, and some 
vessels already in active service. 

One of the forgotten lessons of the war is given in the singular fatality that 
attended the formidable iron-clad vessels constructed by the Confederacy. The 
South not only furnished the first iron-clad of the war, but it constructed c)thers 
which were confidently and reasonably relied upon to raise the blockade in both 
Savannah and New Orleans. The Confederates had converted the English iron 
clad steamer Fingal, one of the successful blockade runners, into one ol the 
most powerful iron-clad war vessels constructed by either side during the war. 
It was regarded by all as the most dangerous engine of war that had yet been 
produced ; and when Admiral Dupont ordered two of his best monitors, the 
" Weehawken " and the " Nahant," to accept the "Atlanta's " challenge of battle, 
the gravest fears were cherished by the Admiral as to the issue of the conflict 



DEFEAT OF THE "ATLANTA." 



245 



So confident were the officers of the "Atlanta " and the people of Savannah of 
the speedy and complete victory of the new Confederate iron-clad, that when 
the "Atlanta," on the 17th of June, 1863, steamed out to give battle, it was 
accompanied by steamers brilliantly decorated with flags and crowded with men 
and women, the elite of the city, to witness the destruction of the Union fleet. 








DEATH OF MAXIMILIAN. 



The "Atlanta" opened the battle, but the Federal monitors were silent until 
they got the exact range desired, when a ball from the "Weehawken " struck 
the side of the "Atlanta," penetrated its armor, and prostrated half the fighting 
force of the vessel by the concussion. The second shot struck the "Atlanta" 
and seriously damaged its plating; the third wounded both the pilots and 



246 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

demolished the pilot house ; and the fourth and final shot crashed through a 
port shutter. .So stunning was the first shot received by the "Atlanta" from 
the "Weehawken" that the "Atlanta" never again fired a gun, as it became 
unmanageable and entirely at the mercy of its adversary. Thus in a very few 
minutes after the battle opened the Confederate iron-clad displaced its colors 
with the white flag, and it was regarded as one of the grandest naval prizes of the 
A'ar. The captured iron-clad was towed away by the victors and reconstructed 
for service in the Federal navy, but on the 6th of December, 1863, when with! 
the fleet within Charleston Harbor, a rough sea caught it, heavily laden with' 
shells, and before relief could come it sunk to the bottom with some twenty-five 
officers and men. 

Such was the fate of the two great iron-clads of the Confederacy that were 
completed and put into action. Each fought one battle and both perished soon 
thereafter ; but the most formidable of all the iron-clads constructed by the South 
during the war, was within a few weeks of completion when Admiral Farragut 
captured New Orleans. The Admiral was advised of the construction of this 
vessel, and the fear of its completion certainly hastened his aggressive action in 
attacking the Confederate forts and fleet on the Mississippi, to enter New 
Orleans. Neither was his information in any degree at fault as to the invulner- 
able character of the new iron-clad. After the capture of New Orleans, Ad- 
miral Farragut and General Butler inform^ed themselves minutely of this new 
engine of war, and both confessed that had it been completed before the capture 
of the city, it would have been capable of destroying Farragut's entire fleet, 
raising the blockade and defending New Orleans from capture. Most fortunately 
for the Union cause, with all the haste that could be practiced in the construc- 
tion of this vessel, it could not be made serviceable until after Farragut's 
heroic and successful assault, and it shared the fate of the first of the Confed- 
erate iron-clads by being blown up by those who had staked the highest hopes 
upon its achievements. Thus while the Confederates were eminently successful 
with their free-lance vessels assailiag our commerce on the seas of the world, 
and while they conceived and accomplished much in the construction of great 
iron-clads, their vessels were all singularly fated to be valueless in promoting 
the Confederate cause. When it is remembered that had the Federal blockade 
been raised in any of our leading ports and an open port maintained, as was 
possible by each of these Confederate iron-clads, the recognition of the Con- 
federacy by England and France would have speedily followed, we may justly 
appreciate the magnitude of the succession of disasters that attended these 
Confederate engines of war. 

The civilized world dates the emancipation of slaves in the United States 
with President Lincoln's proclamation of January ist, 1863, and all historians 
of the future will date the overthrow of bondage in our land with that 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 



247 



immortal instrument. But the Emancipation Proclamation was not the end 
of slavery ; it was simply the means that crystallized the forces that led to 
universal freedom within the limits of the Republic. In point of fact, 
President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did not liberate a single slave, 
and it did not even assume to overthrow slavery in all the States of the 
Union. Tennessee, Maryland, and Delaware, three slave States then in partial 
accord with the Government, and nearly one-half the territory of Virginia and 



.5>-- 









:,4^.iw^- &i! .:'^ 




BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF TIIK NDRTII END Or ANDERSONVILLE I'KISON. 
{I' r, lilt a photograpli.) 

In llie middle-ground midway oi the swamp ib the " Island" which was covered with shelters after the higher ground had 

all been occupied. 

a considerable portion of the territory of Louisiana, were expressly excluded 
from the operations of the proclamation. It was an exercise of the extreme 
authority of the Executive under the war powers of the Constitution, and 
had it been thus carried into effect, it would have left slavery existing in five 
of the States. Congress had advanced toward emancipation to the extent 
of giving freedom to every slave that reached the Federal lines whose 
master was in rebellion against the Government, and the Emancipation 



248 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



Proclamation practically accomplished nothing more. While it proclaimed 
freedom to all the slaves within the States and territory named, their actual 
freedom was not attained until our victorious armies brought them within our 
lines, and possessed the territory of the slave States. 

President Lincoln well appreciated the fact that his proclamation was 
simply the final step toward the utter overthrow of slavery, and that othei 
and most important agencies were essential to the completion of the great 
work with which his name must ever be associated. A prompt movement 
was made in Congress to give completeness to the emancipation policy by a 
constitutional amendment forbidding slavery in every State and Territory 
of the Union, and one of the most desperate Congressional struggles of 
the war was precipitated by that effort. It was defeated in 1864, wanting 




LIBBY PRISON IN 1 865. 



several votes of the necessary two-thirds in the House, but the same House, 
during the second session, finally adopted it, and thus slavery was abolished 
throughout the length and breadth of the land, and thus the complete 
triumph of Lincoln's Emancipation Policy was attained. But none the less 
will future generations turn back to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 
as we do now, to date the deliverance of the great Republic of the world 
from the blistering stain of human bondage, and throughout all the peoples 
of the earth where the altar of liberty shall be known, there will the name 
of Abraham Lincoln be honored, because it gave freedom to 4,000,000 of 
bondmen. 

There are very many forgotten lessons taught on the bloody battle fields 
of our Civil War which will never be recorded in history. The battle of 
Gettysburg, the Waterloo of the Confederacy, furnishes come most conspicuous 



THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



249 



instances of the apparent accidents which control the destiny of great armies, 
and possibly the destiny of nations. That great battle-field had not been chosen 
by the leaders of either army. It was accident or fate, or the omnipotent 
power that rules over all, that doomed the Confederate army to be defeated 
when it was most confident of victory and best equipped in numbers, munitions, 
and confidence for a triumphant campaign. The first day was an appalling 
disaster to the Federal army. Two army corps, embracing probably one-fourth 
of Meade's entire force, were not only defeated but routed in that engagement, 
the commanding officer killed, and the demoralized Federal forces driven 
through Gettysburg to Cemetery Hill. Had they been pursued by the Con- 




I.IBBY FRISON IN ISS4, liEFOKE ITS REMOVAL TO CHICAGO 



federate force that had defeated them, they could have been captured or 
scattered so as to be ineffective in the future battle ; and even after the pursuit 
had been abandoned and Confederate headquarters established on Seminary 
Hill, Round Top, that commanded the left of the Federal position, and Culp's 
Hill, that commanded its right, could have been taken without firing a gun. 
Had that been done, the most impregnable position between Williamsport and 
Washington could not have been held an hour the following morning, the great 
decisive battle of the war, fought between the opposing lines on Cemetery and 
Seminary Hills, would have been unknown to history, and on no other field 
chosen by the Federal commander could Lee have been compelled to fight at 
such a disadvantage. Had Meade been defeated at Gettysburg who could 



250 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



nieasu/e the consequences? Baltimore, Philadelphia, all the teeming wealth 
of the Lancaster and Cumberland valleys, and possibly even the Capital itself, 
would have been at the mercy of the Southern victors. 

Three days' delay in the arrival of pontoon trains at Fredericksburg not 
only lost Burnside that battle, but ended in one of the most bloody assaults of 
the war, and one that was equaled only by Pickett's assault at Gettysburg in the 
wanton sacrifice of life. Burnside's delay, caused by the failure of his pontoon 
trains, gave Lee ample time to concentrate his army and entrench himself on the 
heights of PVedericksburg, and the defeat of the Federal army, with 16,000 
killed and wounded, was the sequel of the blunder. The mistake of a single 
officer in choosing a road when executing the orders of General Meade in 
marching upon Mine Run, in all human probability, saved Lee from a most 
disastrous defeat, and compelled Meade to retire and close the campaign. 
Had his plans been executed he would have suddenly thrown his entire 
army between Lee's divided forces, fought them in detail and defeated them ; 
but the mistaken march of part of his army separated .his own forces and 
enabled Lee to concentrate at Mine Run, where he was so strongly entrenched 
that his position was absolutely impregnable. Many such instances might be 
cited, and results no less momentous frequently depended upon the condition 
of the roads and bridges, or of the weather, for " moist weather at the front" 
meant indefinite delay in the movement of trains and utter uncertainty as to 
the time in which necessary movements could be executed. The most heroic 
strategy of the war was exhibited by General Grant, when he swung his army 
away from the Mississippi River around to Jackson, defeated General Johnson 
in several pitched battles, separated him finally from General Pemberton, and 
shut Pemberton up in Vicksburg for his memorable siege that ended in the 
surrender of Pemberton's army six weeks thereafter. Grant is the only 
General of the army who would have made that campaign, and he did it 
against the advice of his subordinate officers and even against the written protest 
of General Sherman. It was a most perilous venture, but it meant the surrender 
and early capture of Vicksburg if successful, and Grant made it a success by 
his indomitable courage and celerity of movement. How he moved may be 
understood when it is stated that he was himself entirely without personal 
baggage, and he was so swift in his marches and in his attacks upon the enemy 
that when Johnson was defeated in the first battle, he was never given time to 
concentrate for another. But for that heroic movement it is doubtful whether 
Vicksburg could have been captured at all, and it is reasonably certain that, if 
captured, it would have been months later and after fearful sacrifice of life. 

It was the deep-seated personal prejudice of Jefferson Davis that made 
Sherman's romantic march to the sea possible, in 1864. General Joseph E. 
Johnson was not in favor with the Confederate President. A short time before 



SHERMAN AT ATLANTA. 



251 



the capture of Atlanta, Davis appeared there in person, removed Johnson from 
command and substituted General Hood, who was a brave but unskillful 
General ; and in a public speech Davis gave notice that the Confederate army 

Hood speedily justified the prediction of Davis 



was to assume the aofofressive 
00 




THE CAPTURE OF BOOTH, THE SLAYER c)K LINCOLN. 



by making a desperate assault upon Sherman's lines to raise the siege of Atlanta. 
It was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war, and for an hour or more after 
McPherson fell victory seemed to tremble in the balance, but Hood's army was 
finally defeated after terrible slaughter, and so impaired in strength that 
Sherman was soon able to manoeuvre him out of Atlanta without another great 



252 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

battle. Had General Johnson remained in command at Atlanta, it is entirely safe 
to say that General Sherman never would have attempted his march to the sea. 

Stonewall Jackson made the most heroic and perilous movement at Chancel- 
lorsville ever made by the Confederate army. He divided Lee's forces in the face 
of an enemy overwhelmingly superior in numbers, made a long march to strike 
General Hooker's right, surprised it, routed it and compelled Hooker's retreaf 
back across the Rapidan without the two great armies meeting face to face in a 
general engagement. That movement cost Jackson his life and the Confederate 
army, confessedly, its ablest Lieutenant. Had Jackson opened the battle of 
Gettysburg there would have been no battle fought on Cemetery Hill. He 
would have possessed the strong positions on both flanks of that line, and the 
battle on the second day would not have been delayed until after mid-day. 
That delay enabled Meade largely to increase his army by the arrival of fresh 
corps and to make his position impregnable by fortification. It was the absence 
of the special qualities possessed by Jackson that lost Lee more than an even 
chance for winning that desperate and decisive conflict. There was but one 
General in the Union army who could have captured Lee at Appomattox. It 
was General Sheridan, and .Sheridan alone, who made Lee's escape impossible. 
He was the very fiend of battle, capable of greater endurance than any other 
officer in the field, and inspired as he was by the hope of making Lee captive, he 
neither slept nor rested after the battle of Five Forks until the end came at 
Appomatto.x. Lee would have been defeated and routed without Sheridan, but 
he is the only General who would have forced Lee to surrender in an open 
country. 

The general public has almost forgotten the latest attempt of a European 
government to gain a foothold in North America. The brief reign of Maxi- 
milian as Emperor of Mexico ; his base desertion by the Emperor of the 
French when it became evident that the United States was to survive the 
rebellion as a united and powerful nation, and that the continued presence of 
a European army on American soil was regarded by the great Republic as a 
demonstration of hostility, and resented as such ; the immediate collapse of the 
empire when foreign support was withdrawn and the tragic death of Maximilian, 
form one of the saddest, but one of the most instructive, chapters in American 
history. 

Such are some of the forgotten lessons of the war, and if all of them were 
carefully studied and faithfully presented, they would fill a large volume of most 
interesting history ; but the actors in that crimson drama are rapidly passing 
away. Not one of the great chieftains of either the blue or the gray now 
survives, and each year sadly thins the already narrow circle of those who 
can recall the many forgotten lessons which are so romantically or so tragically 
interwoven with the history of the most heroic conflict ever made in man's 




i6 



WILLIAM T. SHERMAN. 



254 1'HE STORY OF AMERICA. 

struggle for man. It is well to believe that some of its lessons will never be 
forgotten. The horror of war which so hindered the prompt suppression of the 
Rebellion grew deeper and took firmer hold upon the minds of our people. To 
those communities, North and South, which sent out their best and bravest to 
unknown graves on distant battle-fields ; to those families who waited with fear 
and trembling to know at what cost to them was purchased the last great 
victory ; to those who saw their loved ones painfully hobbling upon crutches, 
or carrying an empty sleeve, or returning, the shadow of their former selves, 
from the horror of Andersonville or Libby Prison ; to these, and they were our 
whole people, war was, and is, utterly horrible. 

It is well to remember how the great man whose election to the presidency 
precipitated the conflict in those four years of supreme trial, of sadness and of 
victory, bound to him the hearts of the people ; and it is well to remember how, 
even in that terrible time when Lincoln was assassinated, and when his slayer 
was being pursued and captured, in the hour which might seem to invite 
anarchy, our national administration was equal to every emergency, and the 
government was undisturbed. That a government of the people can live 
through such catastrophes is a lesson not soon to be forgotten. The great 
lesson of the war is the permanency, the adaptability and the adequacy of 
republican institutions. 

A. K. McClure. 



The Story of Our Navy and Great Naval 

Battles. 



Prior to the break- 
ing out of the Revokition- 
ary War, America had no 
navy. The colonists had 
before this time looked 
to the mother country for 
protection on the seas. 
But in the fall of 1775, 
when war seemed im- 
minent, the buildine of 
^^ thirteen war-cruisers was 
begun. Only one of 
these ships-of-the-line was 
built — the "America" — 
and she was given to 
France before she was 
launched. During the 
whole war, a total of 
twenty small frigates and 
twent)-one sloops flew 
the American flag ; and 
fifteen of the former and 
ten of the latter were 
either captured or de- 
stroyed. What cockle-shells they were, and how slight in armament, compared 
with the floating fortresses of to-day, may be reckoned from the fact that twelve- 
pounders were their heaviest guns. Beside these, of course, there were many 
privateers, sent out to prey upon the enemy's commerce. These swift fishlna 
craft ventured even to cruise along the very coast of England, and down to the 
time of the French alliance captured more than six hundred English vessels. 

In the annals of the regular navy, there are but three great captains' names: 
Wickes, Conyngham, and Jones. It was Lambert Wickes who, on his little 
sixteen-gun "Reprisal," first bore the American war-flag to the shores of Europe, 

255 




FIGHT BETWEEN BON HOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS. 



256 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

and made it a terror to the great power that claimed to "rule the waves." 
After a brilliant cruise the " Reprisal " went down, with all hands, in the summer 
of 1 777, on the treacherous banks of Newfoundland. Then Gustavus Conyngham 
took up the work, with his "Surprise" and "Revenge," and that very summer 
so scourged the micrht of England in the North Sea and in the British Channel 
itself, that the ports were crowded with ships that dared not venture out, and 
the rates of marine insurance rose to fabulous figures. 

But the one splendid name of that era was that of a canny young Scotch- 
man, John Paul Jones. Eighteenth he stood on the list of captains commissioned 
by the Congress, but on the scroll of fame, for those times, first — and there is no 
second. Coming to Virginia in boyhood, he entered the mercantile marine. 
When the war broke out he offered his services to the Congress, and was made 
a captain. And in 1778 he was sent with the "Ranger," of eighteen guns, to 
follow where Wickes and Conyngham had led. He swept with his tiny craft up 
and down the Irish Channel, entered Whitehaven and burned the shipping at 
the docks ; captured off Carrickfergus the British war-sloop " Drake," larger 
than his own ship, and then made his way to Brest with all his prizes in tow. 

Next year he set out on his immortal cruise, with a squadron of five ships. 
His flagship was an old merchantman, the "Duras," fitted up for fighting and 
renamed the "Bon Homme Richard," in honor of Franklin and his " Poor 
Richard's Almanac." She was a clumsy affair, armed with thirty-two twelve- 
poi'nders and six old eighteen-pounders not fit for use, and manned by 380 men 
of every race, from New Englanders to Malays. The "Pallas" was also a 
merchantman transformed into a thirty-two gun frigate. The " Vengeance " and 
the "Cerf" were much smaller; quite insignificant. The "Alliance" was a 
new ship, built in Massachusetts for the navy, but unhappily commanded by a 
Frenchman named Landais, half fool, half knave. Indeed, all the vessels save 
the flagship were commanded by Frenchmen, who were openly insubordinate, 
refusing half the time to recognize the commodore's authority, and often leaving 
him to cruise and fight alone. Yet the motley squadron did much execution 
along the shores of Britain. It all but captured the city of Leith, and entered 
H umber and destroyed much shipping. 

But the crowning glory came on September 23, 1779. On that immortal 
date Jones espied, off Flamborough Head, a fleet of forty British merchantmen, 
guarded by two frigates, bound for the Baltic. At once he gave chase. He 
had, besides his own ship, only the " Pallas " and the "Alliance," but they would 
be sufficient to capture the whole fleet. But the miserable Landais refused to 
obey the signal, and kept out of the action. So the fight began, two and two. 
Jones, Vv^ith the " Bon Homme Richard," attacked the "Serapis," Captain Pear- 
son, and the " Pallas" engaged the " Countess of Scarborough." The "Sera- 
jMs " had fifty guns and was much faster and stronger than Jones's ship. The 



JOHN PAUL JONES AND HIS FAMOUS VICTORY. 



257 



"Countess of Scarborough," on the other hand, was much inferior to the 
" Pallas " and proved an early victim. 

It was growing dark, on a cloudy evening, and the sea was smooth as a 
mill-pond, when the "Bon Homme Richard" and the " Serapis " began their 
awful duel. Both fired full broadsides at the same instant. Two of Jones's old 
eighteen-pounders burst, killing twelve men, and the others were at once aban- 
doned. So all through the fight, after that first volley, he had only his thirty-twa 
twelve-pounders against the 
fifty guns — twenty of them 
eighteen-pounders, twenty 
nine-pounders, and ten six- 
pounders — of the "Serapis." 
For an hour they fought and 
manojuvred, then came to- 
gether with a crash. An 



mstant, 
" Have 
colors ? " 
" I have 



the 



firing 




ceased. 

you struck your 

demanded Pearson. 

not yet begun to 
fight ! " replied Jones. Then 
with his own hands Jones 
lashed the two ships together, 
and inseparably Joined, their 
sides actually touching, they 
battled on. Solid shot and 
canister swept through both 
ships like hail, while musket- 
men on the decks and in the 
ricrging exchanged storms of 
bullets. For an hour and a 
half the conflict raged. Then 
Landais came up with the 
"Alliance" and began firing 
equally on both. Jones ordered him to go to the other side of the " Serapis" 
and board, and his answer was to turn helm and go out of the fight altogether. 
Now the fighting ships were both afire, and both leaking and sinking. Most 
of the guns were disabled, and three-fourths of the men were killed or 
wounded. The gallant Pearson stood almost alone on the deck of the doomed 
"Serapis," not one of his men able to fight longer. Jones was as solitary on 
the "Bon Homme Richard," all his men still able-bodied being at the pumps, 
striving to keep the ship afloat. With his own hands he trained a gun upon 



PAUL JONES. 



258 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

the mainmast of the "Serapis," and cut it down; and then Pearson surren- 
dered. The "Pallas" and "Alliance" came up and took off the men, and in 
a few hours the two ships sank, still bound together in the clasp of death. 

This was not only one of the most desperate and deadly naval battles 
in history. Its moral effect was epoch-making. John Paul Jones was the 
hero of the day, and Europe showered honors upon him. The American flag 
was hailed as a rival to that of England on the seas, and all Europe was 
encouraged to unite against England and force her to abate her arrogant pre 
tensions, and to accede to a more just and liberal code of international maritime 
law than had before prevailed. In view of this latter fact, this battle must be 
ranked among the three or four most important in the naval history of the 
world. It was this battle that inspired Catharine of Russia to enunciate the 
doctrine of the rights of neutrals in maritime affairs ; and the tardy acquiescence 
of England, eighty years later, in that now universal principle, was brought 
about by the blow struck by John Paul Jones off Flamborough Head. 

There were no other naval operations of importance during the Revolution, 
save those of the French fleet at Yorktown. But soon after the declaration of 
peace, new complications arose, threatening a war at sea. England and France 
were fighting each other, and commerce was therefore diverted to the shipping 
of other nations. A very large share of Europe's carrying trade was done by 
American vessels. But these were between two fires. England insisted that 
she had a right to stop and search American ships and take from them all 
sailors of English birth ; actually taking whom she pleased ; and France made 
free to seize any American ships she pleased, under the pretext that there were 
English goods aboard ; and when she captured an English ship and found on 
board an American seaman who had been impressed, instead of treating him 
as a prisoner of war, like the others, she hanged him as a pirate. 

Naturally indignation rose high, and preparations were made for war with 
France. In July, 1 798, the three famous frigates, the "Constellation," the "United 
States," and the "Constitution," best known as "Old Ironsides," were sent to sea, 
and Congress authorized the navy to be increased to include six frigates, twelve 
sloops, and si.x smaller craft. Among the officers commissioned, were the illus- 
trious Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur, Rodgers, and Stewart. Actual hostilities soon 
began. French piratical cruisers were captured, and an American squadron 
sailed for the West Indies to deal with the French privateers that abounded 
there, in which work it was generally successful. In January, 1 799, Congress 
voted a million dollars, for building six ships of the line and si.x sloops. Soon 
after, on February 9, occurred the first engagement between vessels of the 
American and French navies. The " Constellation," Captain Truxton, over- 
hauled ' L'Insurgente," at St. Kitts, in the West Indies, and after a fight of an 
hour and a quarter forced her to surrender. The " Constellation " had three 



SUPPRESSING THE BARBARY PIRATES. 259 

men killed and one wounded ; " L'Insurgente " twenty killed and forty-six 
wounded. 

Again, on February i, 1800, Truxton with the " Constellation " came up, at 
Guadeloupe, with the French Frigate " La Vengeance." After chasing her two 
days he brought on an action. The two ships fought all night. In the 
morning, "La Vengeance," completely silenced and shattered, drew away and 
escaped to Curacoa, where she was condemned as unfit for further service. 
The " Constellation " was little injured save in her rigging. For his gallantry, 
Truxton received a gold medal from Congress. Later in that year there 
were some minor engagements, in which Americans were successful. 

By the spring of 1801, friendly relations with France were restored. The 
President was accordingly authorized to dispose of all the navy, save thirteen 
ships, six of which were to be kept constantly in commission, and to dismiss 
from the service all officers save nine captains, thirty-six lieutenants, and one 
hundred and fifty midshipmen. At about this time ground was purchased and 
navy-yards established at Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Wash- 
ington and Norfolk, and half a million dollars was appropriated for the 
completion of six seventy-four gun ships. 

Now came on real war. For many years the pirate ships of the Barbary 
States, Algeria and Tripoli, had been the scourge of the Mediterranean. The 
comiTierce of every land had suffered. European powers did not venture to 
suppress the evil, but some of them basely purchased immunity by paying 
tribute to the pirates. America, too, at first followed this humiliating course, 
actually thus paying millions of dollars. In September, 1800, Captain Bainbridge 
went with the frigate " George Washington " to bear to the Dey of Algeria the 
annual tribute. The Dey took the money, and then impressed Bainbridge and 
his ship into his own service for a time, to go on an errand to Constantinople. 
Bainbridge reported this to Congress, adding, " I hope I shall never again be 
sent with tribute, unless to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon " However, 
Bainbridge was received courteously at Constantinople, and his ship was the 
first to display the American flag there. 

Captain Dale was sent with a squadron to the Mediterranean in 1801, to 
repress the pirates of Tripoli. One of his ships, the schooner " Experiment," 
captured a Tripolitan cruiser, and this checked for a time the ardor of the pirates. 
But open war was soon declared between the two countries, and Congress 
authorized the sending of a larger fleet to the Mediterranean. The gallant 
Truxton was offered the command of it, but declined because the cheese-paring 
Administration was too parsimonious to allow him a proper staff of subordinates. 
Thereupon he was dismissed from the service, and Captain Morris sent in his 
place. But false economy had so enfeebled the navy that the fleet was able to 
do little. One Tripolitan ship was captured, however, and another destroyed. 



26o THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Then the Government woke up, and began building new ships, and sent 
another rquadron over, led by Preble with the "Constitution." He went first 
to Morocco, whose Sultan at once sued for peace ; and then proceeded to 
Tripoli. Here he found that the frigate "Philadelphia," with Bainbridge and 
three hundred men aboard, had been captured and was being refitted by the 
Tripolitans for their own use. Decatur, commanding the " Enterprise," under 
Preble, determined upon a bold counter-stroke. Taking a small vessel, the 
"Intrepid," which he had captured from Tripoli, he sailed boldly into the 
harbor, flying the Tripolitan flag and pretending to be a merchant of that 
country. Running alongside the " Philadelphia," he boarded her, set her afire, 
and sailed away in safety, though amid a storm of shot and shell. The " Phila- 
delphia " was burned to the water's edge. 

Nothing more was done at the time, however, save to keep up a blockade, 
and Bainbridge and his men remained in captivity. In August, 1804, Preble and 
Decatur made a vigorous attack upon the harbor, and destroyed two and 
captured three vessels. A few days later other attacks were made. Then a 
new squadron under Commodore Barron came to the scene, and Preble was 
superseded. No other naval operations of importance occurred, and peace was 
finally concluded in 1805. 

Troubles with England now grew more serious. That country persisted in 
searching American ships and taking from them all whom she chose to call 
deserters from the British service. And so the two powers drifted into the war 
of 181 2. In that struggle, the Americans were badly worsted on land, but won 
victories of the first magnitude on the lakes and ocean. America had only 
nine frigates and a score of smaller craft, while England had a hundred ships of 
the line. Yet the honors of the war on the sea rested with the former. Her 
triumphs startled the world. The destruction of the " Guerriere " by the 
"Constitution," Captain Hull, marked an epoch in naval history. Then the 
"United States," Captain Decatur, vanquished the "Macedonian;" the 
"Wasp," Captain Jones, the "Frolic;" the " Constitution," Captain Bainbridge, 
the "Java;" and the "Hornet" the "Peacock." On Lake Erie, Commodore 
Perry won a great victory, which he announced in the famous message, " We 
have met the enemy, and they are ours." Equally brilliant was the victory of 
MacDonough on Lake Champlain. The most deplorable reverse was the 
destruction of the "Chesapeake" by the British ship " Shannon," the "Chesa- 
peake's" commander, Lawrence, losing his life, but winning fame through his 
dying words, " Don't give up the ship !" 

The conflicts of this war are more fully detailed elsewhere in this volume. 
It is needful here only to mention them briefly, as we have done. The cause of 
the surprising successes of the Americans may well be explained, however. 
It was due to that very inventive ingenuity that has made the history of the 



262 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

world's industrial progress so largely a mere chronicle of "Yankee notions." 
The Americans had invented and were using sights on their cannon. That was 
all. But the result was that their aim was far more accurate and their fire far 
more effective than that of their opponents. This advantage, added to courage 
and skill in seamanship equal to any the world had known, gave them their 
victory. 

This war was ended in February, 1815, and a month later another was 
begun. This was against the Dey of Algeria, who had broken the peace and 
seized an American ship, despite the fact that America had continued down to 
this time to pay tribute to him. It was now determined to make an end of the 
business ; so Bainbridge was sent, as he had requested, to deliver the final 
tribute from his cannons' mouths. Before he got there, however, Decatur, did 
the work. He captured an Algerine vessel ; sailed into port and dictated an 
honorable peace ; and then imposed like terms on Tripoli and Tunis, thus 
ending the tyranny of the Barbary States over the commerce of the world. 

Thereafter for many years the navy had not much to do. Some vessels were 
used for purposes of exploration and research, and much was thereby added to 
the scientific knowledge of the world. During the Mexican war, naval opera 
tions were unimportant. But in 1846 complications with Japan were begun. 
In that year two ships were sent to the Island empire, on an errand of peaceful 
negotiation, which proved fruitless. Three years later another went, on a 
sterner errand, and rescued at the cannon's mouth a number of shipwrecked 
American sailors who had been thrown into captivity. 

Finally the task of "opening Japan" to intercourse with the rest of the 
world, a task no other power had ventured to assume, was undertaken by 
America. On November 24, 1S52, Commodore Perry set sail thither, with a 
powerful fleet. His commission was to "open Japan"; by peaceful diplomacy 
if he could, by force of arms if he must. The simple show of force was 
sufficient, and in 1854, he returned in triumph, bearing a treaty with Japan. 

The most extended and important services of the United States navy were 
performed during the War of the Rebellion At the outbreak of that conflict, 
in 1 86 1, the whole navy comprised only forty-two vessels in commission. 
Nearly all of these were scattered in distant parts of the world, where they had 
been purposely sent by the conspirators at Washington. Most of those that 
remained were destroyed in port, so that there was actually for a time only one 
serviceable war-ship on the North Atlantic coast. But building and purchase 
soon increased the navy, so that before the end of the year it numbered two 
hundred and sixty-four, and was able to blockade all the ports of the Southern 
Confederacy. They were a motley set, vessels of every imaginable type, ferry- 
boats and freight steamers, even, being pressed into use ; but they served. 

The first important naval action was that at Hatteras Inlet, in August, 1861, 



PASSING THE FORTS. 



2D3 



TJiere Commodore Stringham, with a fleet of steam and sailing craft, bombarded 
a series of powerful forts and forced them to surrender, without the loss of a single 
man aboard the ships. Next came the storming of Port Royal. At the end of 
October Commodore Dupont and Commander Rodgers went thither with a 
strong squadron. They entered the harbor, and formed with their ships an 
ellipse, which kept constantly revolving, opposite the forts, and constantly pouring 
in a murderous fire. It was earthworks on land against old-fashioned wooden 
ships on the water ; but the ships won, and the forts surrendered. A small 
flotilla of rebel gunboats came to the assistance of the forts, but were quickly 
repulsed by the heavy fire from the ships. 

The next year saw much naval activity in many quarters. The blockade 
of all Southern ports was rigorously maintained, and there were some exciting 
engagements between the national ships and blockade runners. On the 
Cumberland, Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers the gunboats of Foote 
and Porter greatly aided the land forces, in the campaigns against Fort Henry 
and Fort Donelson, at Island No. 10, and Vicksburg. Roanoke Island and 
New Berne, on the Carolina coast, were taken by a combined naval and military 
expedition. 

Oneof the most striking events of the war was the entrance of the Mississippi 
and capture of New Orleans by Admiral Farragut. He had a fleet of forty 
vessels, all told. Opposed to him were two great and strong land forts, Jackson 
and St. Philip, one on each side of the river, mounting two hundred and twenty- 
five guns. From one to the other stretched a ponderous iron chain, completely 
barring the passage, and beyond this was a fleet of iron-clad gun-boats, fire- 
ships, etc. Military and naval authorities scouted the idea that Farragut's 
wooden ships could ever fight their way through. But Farragut quietly scouted 
the authorities. Making his way up to within range of the forts he began a 
bombardment. On the first day his guns threw 2000 shells at the enemy. 
A huge fire-raft was sent against him, but his ships avoided it and it passed 
harmlessly by. Another was sent down that night, a floating mountain of flame. 
But one of Farragut's captains deliberately ran his ship into it, turned a hose 
upon it, and towed it out of the way ! 

For a week the tremendous bombardment was kept up, 16,800 shells being 
thrown at the forts. Then Farragut cut the chain, and started to run the fiery 
gauntlet of the forts with his fleet. Before daylight one morning the mortar 
boats opened a furious fire, under cover of which the ships steamed straight up 
the river. The forts opened on them with every gun, a perfect storm of shot 
and shell, and the ships replied with full broadsides. Five hundred cannon 
were thundering. One ship was disabled and dropped back. The rest swept 
on in a cloud of flame. Before they were past the forts, fire-ships came down 
upon them, and iron-clad gunboats attacked them. The "Varuna," Captain 



264 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



Boggs, was surrounded by five rebel gunboats, and sank them all. As the last 
of them sank, a sixth, a huge iron-clad ram, came rushing upon the "Varuna." 
Boggs saw he could not escape it, so he turned the " Varuna " so as to receive 
the blow squarely amidships. The ram crushed her like an egg-shell, and in a 
few minutes she sank. But her fearful broadsides, at such close range, riddled 
the ram, and the two went down together. In an hour and a half, eleven rebel 
gunboats were sent to the bottom, and the fleet was past the forts. Next 




SINKING OF THE ALABAMA. 



morning Farragut raised the national flag above the captured city of New 
Orleans. 

This tremendous conflict was not, however, the most significant of that 
year. There was another which, in a single hour, revolutionized the art of 
naval warfare. When, at the outbreak of the war, the Norfolk Navy-yard had 
been destroyed to keep it from falling into rebel hands, one ship partially escaped 
the flames. This was the great frigate " Merrimac," probably the finest ship in 



THE ''MONITOR" AND "MERRIMAC" 265 

the whole navy. The Confederates took her hull, which remained uninjured, 
and covered it completely with a sloping roof of iron plates four inches thick, 
backed with heavy timbers, put a great iron ram at her bow, and fitted her with 
large guns and powerful engines. Then, to protect her further, she was coated 
thickly with tallow and plumbago. She was regarded as entirely invulnerable 
to cannon-shot, and her builders beheved she would easily destroy all ships sent 
against her and place New York and all Northern seaports at the mercy of hei 
guns. At the same time a curious little craft was built, hurriedly enough, in 
New York. It was designed by John Ericsson, and was called the " Monitor." 
It consisted of a hull nearly all submerged, its flat iron deck only a few inches 
above the water, and upon this a circular iron tower, which was turned round and 
round by machinery and which carried two large guns. Naval experts laughed 
at the "cheese-box on a plank," as they called it, and thought it unworthy of 
serious consideration. 

A REVOLUTION IN NAVAL WARFARE. 

At noon of Saturday, March 8, the mighty " Merrimac," a floating fortress 
of iron, came down the Elizabeth River to where the National fleet lay in 
Hampton Roads. The frigate "Congress" fired upon her, but she paid no 
attention to it, but moved on to the sloop-of-war "Cumberland," crushed her side 
in with a blow of her ram, riddled her with cannon-balls, and sent her to the 
bottom. The solid shot from the "Cumberland's" ten-inch guns glanced from 
the " Merrimac's " armor, harmless as so many peas. Then the monster turned 
back to the "Congress" and destroyed her. Next she attacked the frigate 
" Minnesota " and drove her aground, and then retired for the night, intending 
the next day to- return, destroy the entire fleet, and proceed northward to 
bombard New York. 

That night the "Monitor" arrived. .She had been hurriedly completed. 
She had come down from New York in a storm, and was leaking and her 
machinery was out of ord^r. She was not in condition for service. But she 
was all that lay between the "Merrimac" and the boundless destruction at 
which she aimed. So she anchored at the side of the " Minnesota " and waited 
for daylight. It came, a beautiful Sunday morning ; and down came the huge 
"Merrimac" to continue her deadly work. Out steamed the tiny "Monitor" 
to meet her. The " Merrimac " sought to ignore her, and attacked the " Minne- 
sota." But the "Monitor" would not be ignored. Captain Worden ran her 
alongside the "Merrimac," .so that they almost touched, and hurled his i6o-lb, 
shot at the iron monster as rapidly as the two guns could be worked. 
Those shots, at tbat range, told, as all the broadsides of the frigates had not. 
The "Merrimac's" armor began to yield, while her own firing had no effect 
upon the " Monitor." It was seldom she could hit the little craft at all, and 
when she did the shots glanced off without harm, Five times she tried to 



266 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

ram the "Monitor," but the latter eluded her. A sixth time she tried it, and 
the "Monitor" stood still and let her come on. The great iron beak that 
had crushed in the side of the " Cumberland " merely glanced on the " Moni- 
tor's " armor and glided upon her deck. The " Merrimac " was so lifted 
and tilted as to expose the unarmored part of her hull to the " Monitor's " 
deadly fire, while the "Monitor" quickly slid out from under her, uninjured. 
Then the " Merrimac " retreated up the river, and her career was ended. She 
was a mere wreck. But the " Monitor," though struck by twenty-two heavy 
shots, was practically uninjured. The only man hurt on the "Monitor" was 
the gallant Captain Worden. He was looking through the peep-hole when one 
of the " Merrimac's" last shots struck squarely just outside. He was stunned 
by the shock and half-blinded by splinters ; but his first words on regaining 
consciousness were, " Have we saved the ' Minnesota ' ? " 

The "Monitor" had saved the "Minnesota," and all the rest of the fleet, 
and probably many Northern cities. But, more than that, she had, in that grim 
duel, revolutionized naval warfare. In that hour England saw her great ships 
of the line condemned. The splendid frigates, with their tiers of guns, were 
thenceforth out of date and worthless. The " cheese-box on a plank " in a 
single day had vanquished all the navies of the world. 

The success of Farragut in passing the Mississippi forts led Dupont, in 
April, 1S63, to attempt in like manner to enter Charleston harbor ; but in vain. 
The fire from the forts was too fierce, and his fleet was forced to fall back with 
heavy losses. But in August, 1864, Farragut repeated his former exploit at 
Mobile. Forming his ships in line of battle, he stood in the rigging of the 
" Hartford," glass in hand, and directed their movements. As Dupont had done 
at Port Royal, he swept round and round in a fiery ellipse. At a critical point in 
the battle the lookout reported, " Torpedoes ahead !" A cry arose to stop the ship. 
" Go ahead ! Damn the torpedoes !" roared the great Admiral, and the ship 
went on. Then the huge iron ram "Tennessee" came forward, to crush them 
as the "Merrimac" had crushed the "Cumberland." But Farragut, with 
sublime audacity, turned the bow of his wooden ship upon her and ran her 
down. Thus the Mobile forts were silenced and the harbor cleared. Nor 
must the storming of Fort Fisher be fortjotten. The first attack was made in 
December, 1864. Admiral Porter bombarded the place furiously, and then 
General Butler attempted to take it with land forces. He failed, and returned 
to Fortress Monroe, saying the place could not be taken. But Porter thought 
otherwise, and remained at his post with his fleet. General Terry then went 
down with an army, Porter renewed the bombardment, the fort was captured, 
and the last port of the Confederacy was closed. 

While the National navy was thus carrying all before it along the coast, 
the Confederates were active elsewhere. Their swift, armed cruisers, fitted out 



268 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

in English ports, scoured the seas and preyed upon American commerce every- 
where, until the American merchant flag was almost banished from the ocean. 
The most famous of all these cruisers was the "Alabama," commanded by 
Raphael Semmes. During her career she destroyed more than ten million 
dollars' worth of American shipping. For a long time her speed and the skill 
and daring of her commander kept her out of the hands of the American navy. 
But at last, in June, 1864, Captain Winslow, with the ship " Kearsarge," came 
up with her in the neutral harbor of Cherbourg, France. Determined to make 
an end of her, he waited, just outside the harbor, for her to come out. Semmes 
soon accepted the challenge, and the duel occurred on Sunday, June 19. I he 
shore was crowded with spectators, and many yachts and other craft came out, 
bearing hundreds anxious to see the battle. The vessels were not far from 
equal in strength. But the "Kearsarge" had two huge eleven-inch pivot guns, 
that made awful havoc on the "Alabama." The "Alabama," on the other 
hand, had more <juns than the " Kearsarsje." But the famous cruiser's time 
had come. As the two ships slowly circled round and round, keeping up a 
constant fire, every shot from the " Kearsarge " seemed to find its mark, while 
those of the "Alabama" went wide. And soon the "Alabama" sank, leaving 
the "Kearsarge" scarcely injured. 

A volume might be filled with accounts of notable exploits of the navy 
which there is not room even to mention here. But one more must be named, 
so daring and so novel was it. In April, 1864, the great iron-clad ram, "Albe- 
marle," was completed by the Confederates and sent forth to drive the National 
vessels from the sounds and harbors of the North Carolina coast. She came 
down the Roanoke River and boldly attacked the fleet, destroying one ship at 
the first onset and damaging others, while showing herself almost invulnerable. 
It was feared that she would actually succeed in raising the blockade, and 
extraordinary efforts were made to destroy her, but without avail. 

At last the job wa^ undertaken by a young officer, Lieutenant Cushing, 
who had already distinguished himself by his daring. He took a small steam 
launch, manned by himself and fifteen others, armed with a howitzer, and 
carrying a large torpedo. The "Albemarle" was at her dock at Plymouth, 
some miles up the river, and both banks of the narrow stream were closely 
lined with pickets and batteries. On a dark, stormy night the launch steamed 
boldly up the river and got within a short distance of the "Albemarle" before 
it was seen by the pickets. Instantly the alarm was given, and a hail of bullets 
fell upon the launch, doing, however, little harm. Cushing headed straight for 
the huge iron-clad, shouting at the top of his voice, in bravado, " Get off the 
ram ! We're going to blow you up ! " Running the launch up till its bow 
touched the side of the "Albemarle," he thrust the torpedo, at the end of a 
pole, under the latter and fired it. The explosion wrecked the "Albemarle" 



NAl'AL ARCHlTIiCTURE REVOLUTIONIZED. 269 

and sank her. The launch was also wrecked, and the sixteen men toc)k to the 
water and sought to escape by swimming. All were, however, captured by tht 
Confederates, save four. Of these, two were drowned, and the other two — 
one of them being Gushing himself — reached the other shore and got safely 
back to the fleet. 

We have said that in the spring of 1861 there were only 42 vessels in com 
mission in the navy. There were also 27 serviceable ships not in commission 
and 21 unserviceable, or 90 in all. During the four years of the war there were 
built and added to the navy 125 unarmored and 68 armored vessels, most of the 
latter being of the " Monitor" type. A few figures regarding some of the en- 
gagements will give a vivid idea of the manner in which the ships fought. In 
the futile attack of the iron-clads on the forts in Charleston harbor, April 7, 1863, 
nine vessels took part, using 23 guns and firing 139 times, at from 500 to 2100 
yards range. They hit Fort Wagner twice, Fort Moultrie 1 2 times, and Fort 
Sumter 55 times, doing little damage. Against them the forts used ']'] guns, 
firing 2229 times, and hitting the vessels 520 times, but doing little damage 
except to one monitor, which was sunk. In the second bombardment of Fort 
Fisher 21,716 projectiles, solid shot and shell, were thrown by the fleet. 

But the m.ost important thing achieved was the entire transformation effected 
in naval science. Hitherto the war-ship had been simply an armed merchant- 
ship, propelled by sails or, latterly, by steam, carrying a large number of small 
guns. American inventiveness made it, after the duel of the "Monitor" and 
" Merrimac," a floating fortress of iron or steel, carrying a few enormously heavy 
guns. The glory of the old line-of-battle ship, with three or four tiers of guns 
on each side and a big cloud of canvas overhead, firing rattling broadsides, and 
manoeuvring to get and hold the weather-gauge of the enemy — all that was 
relegated to the past forever. In its place came the engine of war, with little 
pomp and circumstance, but with all the resources of science shut within its ugly, 
black iron hull. 

John Paul Jones, with his " Bon Homme Richard," struck the blow that 
made universal the law of neutrals' rights. Hull, with the " Constitution," send- 
ing a British frigate to the bottom, showed what Yankee ingenuity in sighting- 
guns could do. Ericsson and Worden, with the " Monitor," sent wooden navies 
to the hulk-yard and ushered in the era of iron and steel fighting-engines. 
These are the three great naval events of a century. 

One of the most thrilling events in naval history occurred in a time of 

peace. It was in the harbor of Apia, Samoa, in March, 1889. A great storm 

struck the shipping and destroyed nearly every vessel there. Three German 

war-ships were wrecked. One English war-ship, by herculean efforts, w^as 

saved. Two American war-ships were wrecked, and one was saved after being 

run on the beach. This was the " Nipsic." The wrecked vessels were the 
17 < 



2 70 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

"Trenton " and the " Vandalia." The combined strength of their engines and 
anchors was not enough to keep them from being driven upon the fateful reefs. 
The " VandaUa " was already stranded and pounding to pieces, and the 
"Trenton" was drifting down upon her. "Suddenly," says a witness of the 
scene, "the Stars and Stripes were seen flying from the gaff of the 'Trenton.' 
Previous to this no vessel in the harbor had raised a flag, as the storm was 
raging so furiously at sunrise that that ceremony was neglected. It seemed now 
as if the gallant ship knew she was doomed, and had determined to go down 
with the flag of her country floating above the storm. Presently the last faint 
ray of daylight faded away, and night came down upon the awful scene. The 
storm was still raging with as much fury as at any time during the day. The 
poor creatures who had been clinging for hours to the rigging of the ' Vandalia ' 
were bruised and bleeding, but they held on with the desperation of men who 
hang by a thread between life and death. The ropes had cut the flesh of their 
arms and legs, and their eyes were blinded by the salt spray which swept over 
them. Weak and exhausted as they were, they would be unable to stand the 
terrible strain much longer. They looked down upon the angry water below 
them, and knew that they had no strength left to battle with the waves. Their 
final hour seemed to be upon them. The great black hull of the ' Trenton ' 
could be seen through the darkness, almost ready to crush into the stranded 
' Vandalia ' and grind her to atoms. Suddenly a shout was borne across the 
waters. The 'Trenton' was cheering the 'Vandalia.' The sound of 450 
voices broke upon the air and was heard above the roar of the tempest. ' Three 
cheers for the "Vandalia ! " ' was the cry that warmed the hearts of the dying 
men in the rigging. The shout died away upon the storm, and there arose from 
the quivering masts of the sunken ship a response so feeble that it was scarcely 
heard on shore. The men who felt that they were looking death in the face 
aroused themselves to the effort and united in a faint cheer to the flagship. 
Those who were standing on shore listened in silence, for that feeble cry was 
the saddest they had ever heard. Every heart was melted to pity. ' God help 
them ! ' was passed from one man to another. The sound of music next came 
across the water. The ' Trenton's ' band was playing ' The Star Spangled 
Banner.' The thousand men on sea and shore had never before heard strains 
of music at such a time as this." And so the good ships went to wreck, and 
many a life was lost ; but a standard of endurance and of valor was there set up 
that shall command the reverence and wonder of the world as long as time shall 
endure. 

During fifteen years of peace, following the War of the Rebellion, the navy 
•was much neglected. No new ships were built, and the old ones fell into decay. 
In 1 88 1, however, William H. Hunt, Secretary of the Navy appointed an 
Advisory Board to plan the building of a new navy adequate to the needs of the 




jjMiti Miit I lii m s ^ ^ \4*m mii 



272 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

nation. From the deliberations of this Fjoard and its successor, appointed 
by Secretary Chandler, sprang the splendid new Heet. The Board recom- 
mended the construction of four steel vessels : the " Chicago," of 4500 tons 
displacement; the "Boston" and "Atlanta," of 3189 tons displacement each, 
and the "Dolphin," of 1485 tons displacement. The dates of the acts author- 
izing these vessels were August 5, 1882, and March 3, 1883, and the contracts 
were taken for all four vessels by John Roach & Sons in July, 1883. 

The pioneer of the new steel navy was the " Dolphin." Although classed 
as a " dispatch boat " in the Navy Register, she has well earned the title of a 
first-class cruiser, and would be so classed if she had the tonnage displacement, 
since she made a most successful cruise around the world, traversing 52,000 
miles of sea without a single mishap. The " Dolphin " was launched April 21, 
and she was finished in November, 1884, and although no material changes 
were made in her she was kept in continuous service for nearly six years. 
A^fter her trip around Cape Horn, and after ten months hard cruising, she was 
thoroughly surveyed, and there was not a plate displaced, nor a rivet loosened, 
nor a timber strained, nor a spar out of gear. At the end of her cruise around 
the world she was pronounced "the stanchest dispatch-boat in any navy of the 
world." 

The " Dolphin " is a single-screw vessel of the following dimensions : 
Length over all, 265'/^ feet; breadth of beam, 32 feet; mean draught, 14'^ 
feet; displacement, 1485 tons. Her armament consists of two four-inch rapid- 
firing guns ; two six-pounder rapid-firing guns ; four forty-seven-millimeter 
Hotchkiss revolving cannon, and two Gatlinsf gfuns. She is also fitted with 
torpedo tubes. Her cost, exclusive of her guns, was $315,000. Her comple- 
ment of crew consists of 10 officers and 98 enlisted men. 

The first four vessels were called the "A, B, C, and D of the New Navy," 
because of the first letters of their names — the " Atlanta," " Boston," " Chicago," 
and "Dolphin." The "Atlanta" and "Boston" are sister ships — that is, they 
were built from the same designs and their plates, etc., were moulded from the 
same patterns and they carry the same armament — hence a description of one 
is a description of the other. They followed the " Dolphin " in service, the 
" Atlanta " being launched on October 9, 1884, and the " Boston " on December 
4, 1884. The "Atlanta" cost $619,000 and the "Boston" $617,000. The 
official description of these vessels is that they "are central superstructure, 
single-deck, steel cruisers." Their dimensions are : Length over all, 283 feet; 
breadth of beam, 42 feet; mean draught, 17 feet; displacement, 3189 tons; 
sail area, 10,400 square feet. The armament of each consists of two eight-inch 
and six six-inch breech-loading rifles ; two six-pounder, two two-pounder, and two 
one-pounder rapid-firing guns ; two 47-millimeter and two 37-millimeter Hotch- 
kiss revolving cannon, two Catling guns, and a seC of torpedo-firing tubes. 



BUILDING A NEW NAVY. 273 

Larger and finer still is the " Chicago," the flagship of the fleet, which was 
launched on December 5, 1SS5. She was the first vessel of the navy to have 
heavy guns mounted in half turrets, her four eight-inch cannon being carried on 
the spar-deck in half turrets built out from the ship's side, the guns being 
twenty-four and a half feet above the water and together commanding the entire 
horizon. There are six six-inch guns in the broadside ports of the gun-deck 
and a six-inch gun on each bow. There are also two five-inch guns aft in the 
after portion of the cabin. Her secondary battery is two Catlings, two six- 
pounders, two one-pounders, two 47-millimeter revolving cannon, and two 
37-millimeter revolving cannon. 

This auspicious start being made, the work of building the new navy went 
steadily on. Next came the protected cruisers " lialtiniore," "Charleston," 
"Newark," "San Francisco," and "Philadelphia," big steel ships, costing from 
a million to nearly a million and a half dollars each. Much smaller cruisers, or 
gunboats, were the "Yorktown," "Concord," and "Bennington," and, smalle.st 
of all, the " Petrel." All these ships, though varying in size, are of the same 
general type. They are not heavily armored, and are not regarded as regular 
battle-ships, yet could doubtless give a good account of themselves in any 
conflict. They are chiefly intended, however, as auxiliaries to the real fighters, 
and as cruisers, commerce destroyers, etc. 

The "Vesuvius," launched in April, iSSS, is a "dynamite cruiser," a 
small, swift vessel, carrying three huge guns, each of fifteen inches bore, pointing 
directly forwartl and upward. From these, charges of dynamite are to be fired 
by compressed air. The " Cushing " is a swift torpedo boat, with three tubes 
for discharging the deadly missiles. It was launched in 1890, and named after 
the intrepid destroyer of the "Albemarle," whose feat has already been 
described. The " Stiletto " is a very small, wooden torpedo boat, of very 
great speed. 

The new navy also contains a number of vessels intended for coast-defense, 
heavily armored for hard fighting. The " Monterey " is a vessel of the 
"Monitor" type invented by Ericsson. It has two turrets, or barbettes, each 
carrying two twelve-inch guns, and protected by from eleven to thirteen inches 
of armor. The bow is provided with a ram. The " Puritan " is a vessel of 
similar design, with fourteen inches of armor. Besides the four big guns there 
is a secondary battery of twelve rapid-firing guns, four Hotchkiss revolving 
cannon, and four Catling guns. The " Miantonomah " is another double- 
turreted monitor. Her four ten-inch rifles have an effective range of thirteen 
miles, and she has a powerful secondary battery. Her big guns can send a five 
hundred-pound bolt of metal through twenty inches of armor, and she is herself 
heavily armored. This is a singularly powerful battle-ship, and would probably 



274 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



prove a match for any war ship in the world. In 1897 the Navy Department 
officials decided to paint tliese and every cruiser and battle-ship olive green in 
case of war. 

The illfated " Maine," lost in Havana harbor February, 1898, was a heavily- 
armored cruiser, and, while intended for seagoing, was really a batde-ship. She 
had eleven inches of armor and carried four ten-inch rifles, besides numerous 
smaller guns. The " Texas " is a similar ship. The " Detroit," " Montgomery," 
and " Marblehead" are small, partially armored cruisers. The " New York" is 
a mighty armored cruiser, of 8,150 tons displacement, and is built on the most 




I'sjt'C"'' 



"rHICAGO," U.S. N., ONE OF THE "WHITE SQUADRON" WAR SHIPS. 



approved pattern for oftensive and defensive power, endurance and speed. She 
i." 3S0 feet 61/^ inches long; steams 20 knots per hour; can go 13,000 miles 
without coaling; has from six to eight inches of armor, and carries six eight-inch 
and twelve four-inch rifles, and numerous smaller guns. The " Brooklyn," like 
the " New York," has 16,500 indicated horse power, is armored and designed on 
the same lines, with 1,000 tons more displacement. 

The "Raleigh" and "Cincinnati" are protected cruisers of 3,183 tons dis- 
placement, and 10,000 horse power; while the "Olympia," of similar construction, 
has 5,500 tons displacement and 13,500 horse power. 



THE ADVANCE OF NAVAL SCIENCE. 275 

The "Iowa" is an armored battle-ship of 1 1,296 tons displacement and 1 1,000 
indicated horse-power, and of the same class are the "Oregon," " Massachusetts " 
and "Indiana," eacli of 10,200 tons displacement and 9,000 horse-power. 

RECENT GROWTH OF OUR NAVY. 

To our fleet of nineteen torpedo boats and destroyino- crafts were added, 
in 1897, three torpedo boats with a speed of thirty knots an hour, and six of 
lesser speed. Among the coast-defense vessels the ram " Katahdin," with a 
particularly ugly beak at the bow, deserves to be noted. Beyond a small 
secondary battery, she depends for offensive force upon her ability to ram a foe ; 
to accomplish this purpose she can be submerged until only her turtle-back, 
funnel and ventilating shafts, all of which are armored, remain above water. 

In 1898 the growth ot our navy was greatly enhanced by the war witli 
Spain. Early in April at Newport News the "Kearsarge " and the "Kentucky," 
the largest battle-ships in our navy, each of 11,525 tons displacement, were 
launched, and in May the "Alabama," a sister ship ot the two just mentioned, was 
launched at Cramps' ship-yard. Two other battle-ships of the same size and 
pattern — namely, the "Illinois" and "Wisconsin " — are in course of construction 
at Newport News and San Francisco respectively. Our Government purchased 
in April from Brazil the two excellent cruisers, the "Amazonas " and "Abrouill," 
which names were changed to " New Orleans" and "Albany." 

The "Amazonas" was delivered to the United States Battle-ship "San Fran- 
cisco" on March 18, 1898, but the "Abrouill," which is a duplicate of the "Ama- 
zonas," was not completed until several months later. These foreign sisters are 
armed with guns in all respects of the best modern type. Their length is 330 feet; 
43 feet 9 inches beam ; draft 16 feet 10 inches, with a displacement of 3,450 tons ; 
and a speed of about nineteen knots per hour. They are both built of steel, 
sheathed with teak and coppered, and enjoy the distinction of being the first 
sheathed ships in our navy. The cost to our Government for the two ships was 
$2,500,000. Numerous other ships of lesser importance were added, including 
the armored mercantile cruisers into which the magnificent ocean erevhounds 
"St. Paul," "St. Louis," "Paris" and others were transformed. Many jirivate 
yachts were tendered by wealthy citizens and accepted. Congress also made 
appropriations for the building of several new battle-ships, torpedo boats and 
torpedo-boat destroyers, on which work was promptly begun. 

All the great nations of the earth are increasing their navies as never before, 
and it is safe to say the United States is rapidly awakening to the importance of 
placing itself among the great naval powers of the earth. 



The Story of Gold and Silver riming. 

Where the Precious Metais are Found and How Obtained. 

The explorations of Lieutenant Fre- 
mont made the possession of Calitornia 
a point most wortli fiohting- lor in the 
war with Mexico. Tlie methods by 
wliich we obtained it were not entirely 
consistent with our boasted character 
as the most just and peace-loving nation 
of the world; but the part played in it 
by the American pioneers who settled 
in California exhibits our strongest na- 
tional traits, both good and bad, in a 
scene half-heroic, half-comic, which will 
never be forgotten. In the words of Dr. 
Semple, one of their leaders, they "bor- 
rowed" supplies on the faith of the Bear- 
flag Government, assured that "their 
children in generations yet to come will 
look back with pleasure upon the com- 
■''- mencement of a revolution carried on 
??' by their fathers upon principles high and 
holy as the laws of eternal justice." 
J Another of the leaders of the revolu- 
tionists crowded the citizens of the cap- 
tured town of Sonora between the four 
walls of their "calaboose," and there read to them a proclamation explaining that 
"though he had for the moment deprived them of the liberty which is the right 
and privilege of all good and just men, it was only that they might become 
acquainted with his unalterable purpose to establish a government based upon 
the common rights of all men." All their proceedings, however, were brimful 
of the American spirit, and showed how the pioneers, though far outnumbered by 
the Spaniards, were inspired by a purpose which made them more than a match 
for the organized forces in guard of the Mexican province. The conquest oi 

277 




kilady for the trail. 



2 78 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



California in this war simply prevented the peaceful annexation of the territory 
to our nation a year or so later. The American pioneers who poured in and 
developed the country had the might and the right to govern it, and tlie 
nation gained nothing which its children prize by violating its best instincts 
in acting the part oi a bully toward our weaker Southern neighbor. 

With the dis 
covery of gold, how- 
ever, California 
suddenly became a 
theatre toward 
which the eyes of 
the whole world 
were turned. The 
discovery was 
made by James 
Wilson Marshal, in 
January, 1848. 
Marshal had been 
employed to con- 
struct a mill on the 
estate of a hundred 
square miles which 
General John A. 
Sutter had received 
as a grant from the 
Spanish Govern- 
ment. Sutter's 
demesne had been 
the centre of the 
American colonies 
in California. Gen- 
eral Sutter himself, 
a Swiss by birth, 
was a eenerous- 
minded visionary, 
w ho had shown 
himself so hospitable to all American immigrants, that he had attained to a 
certain pre-eminence in the affairs of the Territory, and was looked upon by 
many as a great and heroic figure. Up to the time of the discovery of gold 
upon his land, his fortunes had steadily mounted upward; from that time they 
went down, down. Marshal was an American by birth, born in a country town 




CLEARING UP UNDER-CURRENTS. 



DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 2 --9 

in New Jersey. He, too, was a courageous and kindly visionary, though some- 
times he was aroused from his accustomed dreaminess into fierce action. His 
fortunes also became worse after his great discovery, and during his later life 
he was somewhat embittered by what he believed to be the injustice and neglect 
of his countrymen. " The enterprising energy of which the orators and editors 
of California's early golden days boasted so much, as belonging to Yankeedom," 
he wrote in 1857, " was not national but individual. Of the profits derived from 
the enterprise, it stands thus : Yankeedom, $600,000,000 ; myself individually, 
$000,000,000. Ask the records of the country for the reason why. They will 
answer ; I need not. Were I an Englishman, and had made my discovery on 
English soil, the case would have been different." Eor this last statement Mar- 
shal had some reason, for the discoverer of gold in Australia, whom Marshal 
claimed to have directed thither, . xeived from the British Government, $25,000, 
and from the Australian Govenment, $50,000, while Marshal received nothing.' 
So much for the discover -r. Now for the discovery. It took place on The 
afternoon of the 24th of January, just after Sutter's mill had been completed, 
and Marshal and his men had made a perilous fight for two weeks to keep the 
dam from being destroyed by the heavy rains which had set in. In this contest 
with the water Marshal had exhibited a courage which made him half deserve 
the accidental fame that came through the finding of the gold. When his men 
were exhibiting to some amazed Indians the workings of their new saw-mill, 
Marshal was inspecting the lower end of the mill-race. He came back with 
the quiet remark, "Boys, I believe I have found a gold mine." He moved oft 
to his cabin, went back to the race, and then again returned to his men, directing 
them early in the morning to shut down the head-gate and see what would come 
of it. The next morning the men did as they were told, and presently Marshal 
came back looking wonderfully pleased, carrying in his arms his old white hat, 
m the top of whose crown, sure enough, lay flakes and grains of the precious 
metal. Comparing these pieces with a gold coin one of the men happened to 
have in his pocket, they saw that the coin was a little lighter in color, and 
righdy attributed this to the presence of the alloy. Then dl the men hurried 
down the race, and were soon engrossed in picking gold from the seams and 
crevices laid bare by the shutting down of the head-gate. In the midst of their 
excitement doubt would sometimes arise, and some of the metal was thrown 
into vinegar and some boiled in the soap-ketde, to see if it stood these tests. 
Then Marshal went off to General Sutter, and feverish with excitement, told 
him of what had come to light. When he returned to the men he said, " O boys, 
It's the pure stuff"! I and the old Cap went into a room and locked ourselves up, 
and^ we were half a day trying it, and the regulars there wondered what the 
devil was up. They thought perhaps I had found quicksilver, as tlv woman did 
down toward Monterey. Well, we compared it with the encyclopedia, and it 



28o 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



agreed with it ; we tried aqua fortis, but it would have nothing to do with it 
Then we weighed it in water ; we took scales with silver coins in one side, 
balanced with the dust in the other, and gently let them down into a basin of 
water ; and the gold went down, and the silver came up. That told the story, 
what it was." 

That did tell the story, and though Sutter tried to keep the story a secret 
until all the work in connection with the mills had been finished, the story 
would not keep. A Swiss teamster learned it from a woman who did some of 
the cooking about the mill, received a little of the gold, spent it for liquor at 
the nearest store, and then the fame of the discovery swiftly flew to the ends 

of the earth. Gen- 
eral Sutter had 
been right in his 
endeavor to keep 
the discovery se- 
cret as long as was 
within his power, 
for no sooner did 
the gold hunters' 
invasion set in than 
it became impossi' 
ble for him to <g^X 
men to work the 
mill which he had 
constructed. The 
invaders carried 
things with a high 
hand, and ended by 
setting aside his 
title to his land and 
establishing the claims which they had made upon it. Never was money made 
with anything like such rapidity. Nearly every ravine contained gold in some 
quantity or other. Nobody waited to get machinery to begin work. Knives, 
picks, shovels, sticks, tin pans, wooden bowls, wicker baskets, were the only 
implements needed for scraping the rocky beds, sifting the sand, or washing the 
dirt for the gold. A letter in the New York Jonrnal of Commerce, toward 
the end of August, says of the hunt for gold : " At present the people are 
running over the country and picking it out of the earth here and there, just 
as dogs and hogs let loose in the forest would root up ground-nuts. Some get 
even ten ounces a day, and the least active one or two. They make most who 
employ the wild Indians to hunt it for them. There is one man who has sixty 




THE SLUICE. 



Tnn RUSH FOR THE GOLD PIRLD. ofii 

Indians unikr his employ. His profits are a dollar a minute. The wild 
Indians know nothing of its value, and wonder what the pale-faces want to do 
with it, and they will give an ounce of it for the same weight of coin silver or a 
thimbleful of glass beads or a glass of grog, and white men, themselves, often 
give an ounce of it, which is worth in our mint ^i8 or more, for a botde of 
brandy, a bottle of soda powders, or a plug of tobacco." 

This newspaper writer had indeed some of the Munchausen qualities that 
his fellow craftsmen have nowadays, and his opportunities for exaggeration 
were increased by the remoteness of the scene and the inaccessibility of 
accurate information. California in those days was another part of the world. 
The journey to it overland took weeks, and even months, and was full of perils 
of starvation in case of storm and drought, and perils of slaughter if camps 
of hostile Indians were encountered. When things went well the life was 
pleasant enough, and is still most picturesque to look back upon. The buffalo 
hunts, the meetings with Indians, the kindling of the camp-fires at the centre of 
the great circle of wagons drawn up so as to form a bulwark against attack 
and a corral for the catde, the story-telling in the light of these camp-fires — all 
present a picture which men will love to dwell upon so long as the memory of 
the Argonauts survives. But there were many dmes when the scenes were 
those of heart-sickening desolation. The attacks of the Indians were less 
horrible than attacks of hunger and disease which set in when the emicrant 
tram reached a territory where the grass had been consumed, or lost their 
cattle in the terrible snow storms of the Sierras. 

The journey by sea was hardly safer and was far less glorious. Every ship 
for California was loaded down with emigrants packed together as closely as so 
much baggage. Ships with a capacity for five hundred would crowd in fifteen 
hundred. The passage money was from $300 to $600. Often the ships were 
unseaworthy, often packed with coal in such a way that fires broke out. Against 
these dangers the passengers could not provide themselves and could not fight. 
The companies that were able to get their ships back again simply coined money, 
but it was no easy matter in those days to get a ship out of San Francisco 
harbor. The crews would instantly desert for the mines, and the wharves were 
lined with rotdng vessels. The vessels which did make the return voyage were 
compelled to pay the California rate of wages. One ship in which the com- 
mander, engaged at New York, received $250 a month, had to pay on return 
^500 a month to the negro cook. 

San Francisco in these days was the strangest place in the world. In 
February, 1848, it had hardly more than fifty houses; in August it contained 
five hundred, and had a large population that was not housed. A pamphlet 
written in the fall of that year says : " From eight to ten thousand inhabitants 
may be afloat in the streets of San Francisco ; many live in shanties, many in 



282 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



tents, and many the best way they can." The best building in the town was the 
Parker House, an ordinary frame structure, a part of which was rented to 
gamblers for ^6o,ooo a year. Even a higher sum than this was said, by Bayard 
Taylor, to have been paid. The accommodation was fearful. The worst that 
can be said of bad hotels may here be imagined. The pasteboard houses, 
hastily put up, were rented at far more than the cost of their construction, for 
every one figured that the land was as valuable as if it had been solid gold 
A correspondent of the New York Evening Post, in November, 1S49, pictures 
in this way the land owners in San Francisco : *' The people of San Francisco are 

mad, stark mad. A dozen times, in 



my work of the last four weeks, 
have I been taken by the arm by 
some of the millionaires — so they 
call themselves, I call them mad- 
men — of San Francisco, looking 
wondrously dirty and out-at-elbo\vs 
for men of such magnificent pre- 
tensions. They have dragged me 
about through the mud and filth 
i almost up to my middle, from one 
pine-box to another, called man- 
sions, hotels, banks and stores, as it 
may please the imagination, and 
have told me, with a sincerity that 
would have done credit to a Bed- 
lamite, that these splendid struc- 
tures were theirs, and they, the 
fortunate proprietors, were worth 
from three to four hundred thou- 
sand dollars a year each. 
There must be nearly two thousand 
houses besides the tents, which are 
still spread in numbers. . . . And what do you suppose to be the value, 
the yearly rental, of this card-house city? Not less, it is said, than twelve 
millions of dollars, and this with a population of about twelve thousand. New 
York, with its five hundred thousand inhabitants, does not give a rental of. 
much more than this, if as much." 

The greater part of this city was five times destroyed by fire in the first 
three years of its existence, but the people, with a hopefulness and energy which 
nothing could put down or burn up, would set to work and rebuild it, almost as 
quickly as the flames had swept it away. Everybody worked. The poorest 




THE CRADLE. 



THE UNEARTHING OP SILVER. 2S3 

man received iinheard-of wages, and t'ne richest man was obliged to do most 
things for liimself. 

When business of every sort was speculative to a degree so close akin to 
gambling, it is not strange that gambling itself took possession of the people 
and halt frenzied them with its excitements. Physical insanity was a frequent 
result of the moral insanity of the community. There were few women in 
C^alilornia, and most of these were of the worst sort. As a consequence, the 
men with no homes to go to in the evenings went into the gambling saloons, 
where they stayed till late at night. According to some descriptions, everybody 
gambled, but, as Royce points out in his admirable " History of California," the 
same men who talk half-boastfully of the recklessness and universality of the 
gambling, within the ne.xt breath speak with great fervor of the strength and 
genuineness of the religious life which soon showed itself in the community. 
There is no doubt that the forces for good as weil as for evil were strong from 
the outset, and as the community grew older the forces for good kept growing 
stronger. More and more wives from the East had joined their husbands, and 
the young wonaen who came from the East among the emigrants were married 
almost immediately on their arrival. Many a hotel keeper who engaged a 
servant girl at $200 a month, was disgusted to find that she married and left him 
before the month was over. With the introduction of fiimily life came a return 
to saner moral conditions, and by 1853 the old distempered social order began 
to be spoken of as a thing of the past. 

The great discovery of silver took place about ten years after the discovery 
of gold. In 1857 Allen and Hosea Grosch, two educated and serious-minded 
young men, from Reading, Pennsylvania, came upon the rich vein of silver 
aftervv'ard famous as "The Great Bonanza." These discoverers were even 
less fortunate than those who found gold in California. Before they could get 
together the capital necessary for the development of this mine, one of them 
struck a pick into his foot and died from blood-poisoning, while the other was 
caught in a terrible snow storm, and died as the result of the freezing of his 
legs, which he would not have amputated. These young men left papers 
describing their discovery in their cabin, which was placed in the charge of 
Henr/ C. T. Comstock. The descriptions were not explicit enough to deter- 
mine the exact location, but Comstock remained in die canon keeping watch 
upon the prospectors. During this time, by his constant watchfulness for a 
great discovery, he obtained the title of "Old Pancake" among the miners, 
because, as Wright narrates in his "Great Bonanza," " tven as he stirred his 
pancake batter it is said he kept one eye on the head of some distant peak, and 
was lost in speculation in regard to the wealth of gold and silver that might 
rest somewhere beneath its rocky crest." At last on the loth of June, 1850 
two prospectors named McLaughlin and O'Riley came upon a stratum ol 



284 



THE STORY OF AMERrCA. 



strancre-lookincr earth, the nature of which they did not understand. Comstock, 
who was immediately on the spot, exclaimed, "You've struck it, boys!" An 
arrangement was at once made to buy off the owners of the claims on which 
the vein was located. Three of the four owners were bought off for fifty dollars 




GOLD-WASHING IN CALIFORNIA. 



apiece ; the fourth sold at some higher figure to another miner named Winters, 
who obtained some inkling of the value of the claim. 

A firm was formed, consisdng of Comstock, McLaughlin, O' Riley, Winters, 
and a man named Penrod, who had been one of Comstock's two partners in 



IMMENSE DEVELOPMEXT. 2S5 

the ownership of a spring necessary to the working of a mine. A third owner 
of this spring, called "Old Virginia," for whom Virginia City was named, 
was persuaded to sell his interest for an old blind horse. The new firm began 
the mining of silver on what came to be called the " Comstock lode." Very 
soon, however, they sold out to men of larger capital, who in turn sold to 
Mackay and Fair, famous the world over among America's millionaires. The 
subsequent fortunes of the firm which Comstock formed are interesting to 
follow, as they again illustrate the fate which came upon most of the men who 
brought to light the hidden mineral treasures of the Western territory. Com- 
stock sold his interest for ;^i 1,000, became a merchant in Carson City, married 
the deserting wife of a Mormon, was soon in his turn deserted by her, failed in 
his business adventure, and ended his life by suicide. McLaughlin sold his 
interest at $3500, soon spent what he received, and afterward became a cook 
in a mine in California. Penrod and Winters were also .soon poor men, while 
O'Riley, the last to sell, engaged in stock gambling with the ^40,000 he received, 
was soon forced to resort to pick and pan ior a living, and ended his life in a 
private asylum. The great fortunes, as has been said, were made by the later 
comers. Those who bought the mine from the original firm lost most that they 
made in litigation. .Senator Stewart used to receive annually as much as 
$200,000 in fees as the principal attorney 01 some of the Comstock companies. 
He estimated the cost of litigation up to January, 1866, at j|; 10,000,000. When 
the Comstock mines finally came into the hand: of Fair, Mackay, and vO'Brien, 
scientific methods were introduced, and the stock of the " Consolidated Virginia ' 
rapidly rose from $85 a share in January, 1874, to $700 a share in January, 1875. 
The shares in another mine in the same lode rose to a like figure, and the two 
together had a market value of $160,000,000. During five years these mines 
produced over $100,000,000 worth of silver. After 1878 their product fell 
gradually, and the price of the stock went down. Bancroft, in his " History of 
Nevada," says that down to January i, 1881, $306,000,000 worth of silver 
bullion was extracted from the Comstock lode. Yet he doubts whether that 
mountain of silver has proven a permanent advantage to Nevada. The wealth 
which came from her mines, he says, was to a large degree squandered by 
gamblers in New York and Paris, and used for purposes of political bribery and 
social corruption in Virginia City and San Francisco. The wealth that exists m 
Nevada to-day has come from improvements made by the people who came and 
developed the farms, made the roads, established the systems of irrigation, and 
built the stores, the factories, and the homes. 

With the introduction of scientific mining, requiring mills and machinery 
costing vast sums of money, the wage system took the place of the free and 
independent mining of the earlier days. It is true that the mine laborers still 
remained their own masters, by organizing as workmen were never organized 

18 



iS6 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



before, and compelling mine owners, for years, to pay four dollars a day as the 
minimum day's wages. But the mining life which came in with the wage system 
is the orderly life of to-day, not essentially different from that of Eastern com- 
munities. The life in the mining camps, to which all romances go back, was the 
life that prevailed when every laborer was his own capitalist, and every capitalist 
his own laborer. Never were so many men from so many places suddenly 




AT WORK IN THE SILVER MINES OF NEVADA. 



thrown together, as in California in '48 and '49. What came afterward in 
Nevada, and later still in Colorado, was like it in kind but not in degree. The 
Californians of the early days were without law, and thousands of miles away 
from established tribunals. Every man was a law unto himself, except when 
the community, as a whole, became aroused, and constituted itself a tribunal. 
The Territory was indeed nominally organized, but to wait for the regular 
process of law was to grant immunity to crime. The character of " miners' 



ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 2S7 

justice " may be illustrated by some of the scenes at Sonora, where gold 
was first discovered. Here there had been law and order previous to 
the miners' invasion, but with the invasion demoralization set in. In 
the fall of 48 the newcomers, following the Mexican fashion, elected two 
Alcaldes, but when one of the storekeepers at the setdement killed a man in a 
fight, both the officers promptly resigned rather than run the risk of arresting 
the homicide. Another storekeeper, however, called the people together to take 
action. This storekeeper was promptly elected Alcalde, and it was decided that 
one Alcalde was enough. A Prosecuting Attorney was likewise required, but no 
one was ready to take the office, and each person nominated promptly declined 
and nominated some one else. Finally the energetic storekeeper was obliged to 
accept this office also. The meeting succeeded in finding a second man to take 
the office of .Sheriff The offender was arrested, a jury impaneled, and the trial 
begun. The prisoner, on being brought in court, was requested to lay his arms 
on the table, and did so. On this table stood a plentiful supply of brandy and 
water, to which everybody in the court-room helped himself at pleasure. The 
trial, however, proceeded with much attempt at legal form, and presently the 
Judge arose and began a plea for the prosecution. '• Hold on, Brannan," said 
the prisoner, "you are the Judge." "I know it," replied that official, "and I am 
Prosecutmg Attorney, too." He went on with his speech, and ended it by an 
appeal to himself as Judge in connection with the jury. When he had finished, 
the prisoner, after helping himself to a glass of brandy, made an able speech 
m his own defense. Night came on and the jury scattered without bringing in a 
verdict. The prisoner was admitted to bail, because there was no prison to 
l)ut him in. The next day the jury met, but disagreed about the verdict. A 
new trial was held and the prisoner acquitted. 

In most of the mining camps the administration of justice fell into the hands 
of the Vigilance Committees. A great many wild stories have been written about 
the trials they held, and story writers have been fond of depicting scenes where 
a higher form of jusdce was carried out than the conventional trials in older 
communities permit. There were, indeed, occasions when sudden and powerful 
appeals to the emodons of the Committee produced sudden and good effects, 
but as a rule the hearts of the Committee were no more open than their reasons! 
I hat they had assembled at all usually meant that there had been an accumula- 
tion of wrongs unpunished, and the gathered indignadon of the community vented 
itseh upon the single individual who happened to be brought to trial Miners' 
justice was indeed far better than lynch law. As Shinn has pointed out in his 
book on " Mining Camps ": " Lynch law is carried out at night by a transient mob 
which keeps no records, conceals the names of its ministers, and is in its essence 
disorderly. Miners' jusdce, on the other hand, was executed in broad daylight 
by men well known, who gave the prisoner a hearing, and kept a careful record 



2SS 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



of their doings." Yet, iu spite of this, the assembling of the Committee was so 
irregular, its constituency so doubtful, its verdicts either so ferocious or so 
inadequate, or both — as when the favorite penalty of flogging and banishment 
was imposed — that the establishment of regular tribunals was iu every respect 
an important gain to the mining communities. This change took place about 
the time that scientific mining was introduced, with regular pay for regular work. 
Before that time Calif irnia, both as regards the rewards of labor and the punish- 
ment of crime, had seemed a world ruled by chance. 




WASHINGTON'S GRAVE 



The Story of the Farmer and His Farm, from 
Primitive Colonial Days to the Present. 



FROM the time wlien the first free home 
was builded on Plymouth Rock, and no 
king, no tax, no petty tyrant, nor grasping 
landlord met the venturesome home- 
seeker, America has offered, from the 
length and breadth and fullness of her 
possessions, the land upon which all 
wanderers on this shifting desert of 
circumstance may erect their altars and 
worship their God according to the dic- 
tates of their own consciences. No other 
country in the world offers such induce 
ments as America. Its great home privi 
leges extend from the ocean of storms 
to the ocean of peace, from the land of 
snows to the land of the orange. 

There are two instincts which impel 
the foreigner to cast his lot with that of 
a new country. The love of home, the 
desire to have his own fireside where 
he may set up his own household gods, 

feelinc; 
But there is 
another feeling that is stronger often 
than patriotism — the desire of posses 
sion, which may take the form of greed 
for land. Those vast territories of unoccupied land which the country continues 
to offer to the resident of the New World will probably all be dealt out in 
less than half a century, so mighty has become the tide of immigration. The 
qualifications for ownership are that the applicant must be twenty-one years of 
age, or at the head of a family, and a citizen, or one who has signified his inten- 

289 




will always be the 
among civilized people 



strongest 



A PLANTATION GATEWAY. 
{Entrance to the Estate 0/ William Byrd, at Westffver, Va.) 



290 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



tion of becoming such. Land to the amount of 160 acres, a quarter-section, 
may be had by the payment of $1.20 per acre, or if 80 acres or less, at $2.50 
per acre. After five years' cultivation, conditioned by a residency during six 
months of the year, the holder or his family is endtled to a patent conferring 
full ownership upon the holder. If the homesteader has served as a soldier 
or sailor during the war, for a period of ninety days or longer, the time of 
actual service is deducted from the full time required for preemption, and 
is equivalent to settlement. He is further allowed six months' dme after 
filino^ his declaration and locatino- his homestead before beginning settlement. 
The soldier's family are entitled to the benefits given soldiers. Every advan- 
tage is given to the homesteader. If one-sixteenth of the land is under 
good timber cultivation, and certain requirements in the way of planting 
have been met, the holder is entitled to receive patent for his land upon 
application after three years' occupancy. The homesteader is further pro- 
tected by the law which forbids the seizures of homestead lands for prior 
debt. The objects of the Government in thus allotdng public lands are to 
make her cidzens contented by giving them the opportunity of establishing 
homes and to encourage agriculture, which must be every nation's chief 
resource. No one can complain that he does not find in America abundant 
opportunity to collect the living which the world owes him. 

Less than two-fifths of the land in the United States is under cultivation. 
the improved land being about 365,300,000 acres, and the vacant public lands 
amoundng to 579,664,683 acres. Aside from other natural resources, the 
wealth of timber and mineral lands extending over thousands of square 
miles, there are fully fifteen hundred thousand square miles of arable land in the 
United States, and her agricultural resources, if fully developed, would 
support a billion people. Japan, with her 48,000,000 acres, supports a popu- 
lation of 41,000,000 on a soil whose limit of culdvation was reached 2000 
years ago. In that country of fully developed resources there is an average 
of one acre to four persons, while in the United States there is an average of 
eight acres to one person. With a land rich in resource, with the advantages 
of modern machinery, and the benefits of increasing knowledge in the science 
of farming, our agricultural possibilities are almost limidess. There are 
2.115,135 square miles west of the Mississippi and 854,865 east. The 
greater portion of the former belonged to the American desert, which is 
receding rapidly before the advance of civilization and will soon become 
mythical. Even that extensive territory in Nebraska and Dakota known 
as the Bad Lands, in disdncdon from the adjoining fertile regions, and the 
Staked Plain of Texas, form a grazing country abounding in valleys and 
ferdle districts. Cultivadon of the soil increases rainfall, and artesian wells 
that overflow help to make the lands arable. But without irrigation and 



THE GREAT GRAIN HARJ'ESTS. 



291 



due to intelligent 
as to an increasing 



artificial moisture there are vast tracts that would produce from 40 to 50 
bushels of wheat and 70 to 80 bushels of corn per acre. 

It may not be true that a nation's history can be read in her agricultural 
machines, but they show in a great measure the development made in agri- 
culture, both as an industry and as a science. The modern farmer, particu- 
larly if he is progressive and has a commercial instinct, is ready to make use 
of all the scientific methods that are offered if he sees a possible chance of 
improving his land, his crops, and 
his income. He is not slow to 
learn that irrigation warms and 
lightens cold and heavy soils, and 
that the utilization of the sub-soil 
hastens the harvest by several 
weeks. The increase in crops 
every year is ' 
farming as well 

number of improved acres for 
farm lands. 

The most important of our 
American crops are corn and 
wheat. The great bulk of corn is 
used at home, and the shipments 
\ary according to the home de- 
mand. The foreign demand for 
the past twenty years has not 
exceeded 3.9 per cent, of the pro- 
duction. The largest rate of pro- 
duction is in the Ohio and Mis- 
souri River valleys, but it is grown 
successfully in every part of the 
country e.xcept at high elevations. 
The highest value per acre is in 
New Hampshire and the lowest in 
South Carolina, where the yield is 

low, although prices are high. No product has a greater local variation than 
corn, for while it is one of the simplest crops as regards cultivation, much 
depends upon the season. 

The price of wheat is regulated largely by the foreign market, the home 
demand affecting it only slightly. During ten years the average yield per acre 
has not varied one-third of a bushel. The banner wheat-growing States are 
Minnesota and the Dakotas, while Kansas and California come next in rank. 




BAGGINC WOOL FOR TRANSPORTATION. 



292 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

While there has been a gradual decrease In the yield of oats since 1889, 
there has been a steady increase in demand, affected somewhat by a growing 
consumption of the grain for human food. The interchangeable use of oats and 
corn regulates the values of each in a degree. The average yield for a series 
of years has been twenty-seven bushels to the acre. The range of value 
per acre is from ^18 or ^19 in Colorado, to $4.50 or ^5 in North Carolina, de- 
pending upon the yield and the cost for transportation. A crop that is not 
grown much in this country is rye. It is a crop for poor soils, and its value per 
acre is from ^11 to $13. In the South it is grown for winter pasturage 
rather than for seed. The average yield per acre, for ten years, has been 
26.6 bushels. 

The potato crop, a never-failing one in this countr)', will always be an 
important staple industry. In Idaho, where the soil is particularly favorable to 
the culture of this plant, 500 bushels have been the average per acre. Nearly 
every soil is suited to its growth. 

Tobacco has always been one of the chief crops from the time it was 
exchanged by the early immigrants for wives, and from the first it has been a 
regular export. The chief tobacco regions are in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennes- 
see, North Carolina, and Maryland, while it is grown also in Connecticut and in 
certain portions of Nev/ York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and other States. The 
yield in Kentucky is steadily increasing, and this State now has 39.62 per cent, 
of the total acreage, besides producing over 45 per cent, of the entire crop 
The seed-leaf varieties are produced more in the Northern States, while farther 
south the manufacturing and export varieties predominate. 

It is often profitable for the farmer to cultivate fodder in the seasons unfav- 
orable to the regular crops. The representative constituent of hay is timothy, 
mixed more or less with other varieties of grass. In Texas, the land of the 
enormous hay farms, the famous mesquite and the native prairie grass, growing 
ten or twelve inches high, very juicy and fine-speared, make the best hay in the 
world. If carefully protected from cattle and allowed to grow, it is sufficiently 
hardy to choke out the weeds. In Arizona and parts of California, wheat, 
barley, and winter rye are cultivated for forage. The hardier varieties of 
sorghum and the early spring or winter grains may always be relied upon for 
fodder. 

The successful cultivation of cotton depends upon certain meteorological 
conditions which the Northern climate lacks. During the first period in 
the growth of the plant, tropical conditions — moisture in the soil from frequent 
rains, an invariable high temperature, hot sun, with little wind — will reduce 
evaporation and contribute to the hardy growth of the plant. During the 
second period, which is the period of fruition, the opposite conditions are 
necessary, both in relation to soil and climate, to arrest the growth of 



TR UCK-FARMING. 



293 



the stalk and develop the boll. So much depends upon these external 
conditions to produce a fine grade of cotton. The best quality is produced 
on the coast and low-lands. The fibre grown in the pine belt is coarser 
and has a lower value for manufacturing purposes. 

Statistics of the great harvests of 1891 show that 2,075,000,000 
bushels of corn were produced, 588,000,000 bushels of wheat, 758,000,000 
bushels of oats, 80,000,000 bushels of barley, 34,000,000 bushels of rye, 
14,000,000 bushels of buck- 



wheat, 225,000,000 bushels 
of potatoes, with a total of 
3,774,000,000 bushels. Also 
523,000,000 pounds of to- 
bacco were raised, 44,430,- 
000 tons of hay, and 8,000,- 
000 bales of cotton. The 
cotton receipts were the 
largest since the year i860. 
While market garden- 
ing may be carried on near 
local markets, where the 
producer often disposes of \ p 
his goods to the consumer, 
truck-farming is usually car- 
ried on at a greater distance 
from the local points, on a 
greater scale. The total 
number of acres under culti- 
vation for truck-farmine is 
534,400, with a total value 
of $76,517,155. In the dis- 
trict of New York and Phila- 
delphia, nearly 109,000 acres 
are cultivated. Not far from 

one hundred million dollars are invested in the industry, and much employ- 
ment is afforded to women and children. The advantages to be derived 
from the industry are that nearly all vegetables may be had during the 
year, since the railroad facilities have made it possible to convey perishable 
products to remote markets in a short time. Florida and the regions of 
the Lower Mississippi Valley supply the Eastern and Central cities in the early 
spring and late fall, and California supplies the Western cities. During 
midsummer the immediate neighborhoods supply tivj cities. 




S-- 



EM RAM h Tti A COTTON-YARD, NEW ORLEANS. 



294 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

A partial failure of any of the crops does not signify that the cities shall 
not be supplied from other sources. About the only products received from 
California in Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are new potatoes, cauliflower, 
cabbage, garlic, and tomatoes. The more perishable vegetables cannot be sent 
such a distance. New England supplies the Eastern markets even in the early 
and late season with such products as are profitable even when raised in hot- 
houses. California has the advantage over other States, for in addition to a soil 
that grows every vegetable, she has a climate that does not endanger her winter 
vegetables by frost. Michigan supplies the Chicago and middle Western mar- 
kets with a great proportion of their produce, while Charleston, Savannah, and 
Jacksonville ship enormous quantities of truck to New York several times a 
week. During the census year of 1S90 an estimate shows that the value of the 
vegetable crop was $5, 773,476.25. 

The Colonial records show that early in the seventeenth century the pro- 
duction of plants brought from the mother country was from seeds and by bud- 
ding, grafting, and layering. In the records of the Massachusetts Company a 
memorandum of March 16, 1629, shows that slips for vine planters were pro- 
vided, and stores of all kinds of fruits, and a letter from George Fenwick, of 
Saybrook, Conn., to Governor Winthrop acknowledged the receipt of trees for 
which he had evidently sent. Nurseries and botanic gardens were established, 
later, about the middle of the last century, at Flushing, L. 1., which for more 
than a hundred years were continued by the descendants of William Prince, the 
original owner ; and another is on record as existinfr near Charleston, S. C, about 
1760. A premium of £\o was awarded to Thomas Young, of Oyster Bay, in 
1768, by the Society for Promotion of Arts. 

The matter of census inquiry in regard to nurseries was taken up in 1891, 
and but little recorded data were found to aid in the work. The approximated 
figures show that about 4510 nurseries are now flourishing in the United States, 
occupying 172,806 acres of land and valued at $41,978,835.80. There are 
employed 45,657 men and 2279 women for propagating and cultivating trees 
and plants, with a total capital invested of 152,425,669.51. The estimates show 
that 95,025.42 acres are comprised in these nurseries, and that a total number of 
plants and trees of 3,386,825,778 are reported, of which less than one-sixth are 
fruit trees ; about one-fourth of the number are grape-vines and small fruits, 
and the remainder are evergreen and deciduous trees, hardy shrubs, and roses. 
The increased taste in horticultural matters and the steadily increasing demand 
will cause the rapid growth of horticultural production. 

Within recent years the division of labor in every industry has made 
it possible to develop every branch in a measure independently of the 
others, save only so far as there must exist a mutual interdependence between 
all industries. In the day of small beginnings the farmer saved his own 



FRUIT-CULTURE. 295 

seeds for successive plantings, and if lie wished to vary his crops or add 
to his varieties, he made an exchange with his neighbors. Since the 
demand for seeds of all agricultural products, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, 
has made it profitable to raise seeds for commercial purposes, it has been 
found worth while to devote 169,831 acres of land exclusively to seed 
production. Nearly one-half of the 569 seed farmers are in the North 
Atlantic States, covering 47,813 acres, or an average of 1S5 acres per 
farm. In the North Central division there are 157 farms, with a total acre- 
age of 787,096, or 555 acres per farm. The largest farms are reported in 
Nebraska and Iowa, with an average of 695 acres. Several of these farms 
average 3000 acres each. The industry is not a new one, for two seed 
farms were reported before 1800. 

Commercial floriculture has made the greater part of its development 
within the past ten years, and there are in this country to-day 965 state and 
local floral societies and clubs, besides the Society of American Florists. 
It is probably due to the influence of these societies that there is a rapidly 
growing taste for the culture of flowers. More than in any other American 
industry are opportunities offered for women. Of the 4659 floral establish- 
ments reported in the census year, 312 were owned and conducted by 
women. These establishments are valued at ^^38, 355, 722. 43, and the 
combined wages of the 16,847 '"d s^^d 1958 women employed, amount 
to ;|^8, 500,000. The rose is the universally favorite flower, as shown by the 
report of products. Nearly fifty million roses were produced in the year, 
thirty-nine million hardy plants and shrubs, and 153,000,000 of all other 
plants. It may be of interest to note that the greatest area of glass in any 
one floral establishment was 1 50,000 square feet, and the smallest 60 square 
feet, an attachment to a New England farm-house where the woman of 
the house sells from $35 to ^50 worth of plants and cut flowers each year. 
Every state and territory except Idaho, Nevada, Indian Territory, and 
Oklahoma, reported floral establishments. 

No industry is more fascinating and compensating to the man who has 
an instinctive fondness for nature, than fruit culture. Aside from the 
pleasure of watching the growth in his orchards and on his plantations, from 
shoot to bud and bloom, through the whole ripening process to full fruitage, he 
is rewarded even further by the literal fruits of conscientious toil. But perhaps 
no agricultural product is more subject to the uncertainty of varying seasons. 

Although extensive fruit farming is of comparatively recent date in 
America, statistics show that 5^85,000,000 was expended in the home markets 
during the last census year for orchard products. In addition, fully ^20,000,000 
was spent for imported fruits and nuts. There is every reason to believe 
that in a few years, with the certain development of our country's resources, 



290 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



and with our rapidly increasing fruit industry, we shall be able to supply, 
not only the domestic markets, but a large part of the foreign as well. 

Fruit raising as a vocation was hardly known in the South until after 
the Civil War. It would have been beneath the dignity of the "fine old 
Southern gentleman " to part with his orchard delicacies for money. The 
best his land could produce belonged always to his family, his friends, and 
the chance stranger within his orates. But when the civil strife was over, 
and his occupation gone, the gentleman turned to the products of the rich 
soil for his livelihood. To-day we find much of our best and most abundant 
fruit is grown in the South, much of which is raised for early Northern markets. 




THE "riCAYLNE TIER. 



Fruit growers remember the wave of fruit culture which, beginning in 
Delaware, swept southward through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and 
all the .States warmed by the Gulf Stream. The territorial limit has not yet 
been reached. The west, aside from California, has not yet disclosed all 
its resources to the fruit g-rower. 

The apple seems to be peculiarly an American fruit, for it can be grown 
successfully in a variety of soils, and in nearly every part of the country. 
It probably thrives best in the hard, rocky land of New England, and there 
seems to be justice in that, for there is so much in the way of fruit cultivation 
that is denied the New Englander. It is often believed that the apple was 
the first fruit discovered in .America ; but the fox-grape was found here, by 



PEACH PS, PEARS, ORANGES. 297 

the earliest explorers, and the apple was probably first introduced by the 
French missionaries. The Dutch and En<jlish colonists followed with varieties 
from their own countries. One branch of apple growing is strangely 
neglected, that of rearing and sending to market the early summer varieties. 

For the propagation of the peach, which is believed to have been brought 
here by Spanish explorers, we are indebted to the Indians. The variety 
known as 'Tndian " peach, sometimes also called Columbia, which was 
introduced into Jersey, has, by cross-cultivation, given numberless varieties, 
from the white free-stone to the peculiar dark purple type. The list of 
hardy varieties is not a long one, the latest being known as the " Excelsior." 
A slight difference in the quality of the fruit makes considerable difference 
in the price, and the shrewd grower aims to produce a superior quality 
rather than a great yield. The process of thinning is strongly recommended. 
As soon as the blossoms have set, fully two-thirds ar« plucked, and another 
thinning should follow as soon as the color of the fruit begins to turn. The 
result, other things being equal, is a yield of magnificent specimens, large, 
finely marked, and delicious to the taste. Peach cultivation is a remunerative 
industry in more ways than one. There is always a demand for skilled 
labor in the picking and handling of the fruit, this work being regarded as 
an art in its way. 

The process of thinning is also profitable with early apples and choice 
pears, especially with those growing in clusters. While California produces 
more pears than any other State, and the California pear has no rival in 
the regard in which it is popularly held, the Southern States, particularly 
Texas, are experimenting with the fruit and have already produced fine 
varieties. The objection to planting pear-trees commonly made, that one 
must wait so long for any returns, is met by the fact that the demand 
for fine pears, as for all high-class native fruit, is constantly increasing. 
A large capital is not necessary to insure success in this branch of the 
fruit industry. 1 he grower needs only to avail himself of the experiences 
of others in regard to the best soil, best methods of producing, and best 
varieties for cultivation. 

The orange industry is a recent one. The fruit was first raised in this 
country for market by Dr. Clayton Cargil!, of Dover, Del., in 1865. Soon 
after this Mrs. Harriet Beecher .Stowe, visiting the region of the St. John's 
River, in Florida, wrote glowing letters on the possibilities for orange cul- 
ture. Since then the trackless pine woods have been converted into orange 
bowers, beautiful to look upon, delightful to the senses, and profitable to 
the owner. There are |,i 0,000, 000 invested in orange groves in Florida, 
with a yearly return of $2,000,000. Fifty varieties are yielded by the tall, 
graceful, shining-leaved trees in that State alone, and fully 10,000 square 



2 98 THE STORY OF AMERICA, 

miles are adapted to the production of the bridal blossom. The finest 
oranges in the world come from Florida, and are raised on the banks of 
the Indian River. No apologies are needed for that fruit, and there are 

vain re- 
that 
and 
qual- 
miss- 
The 




no 
grets 



such 
such a 
ity is 
i n g. 

Gulf Stream 
weathers are 
favorable to 
a variety that 
is almost as 
large as a 
croquet ball, 
of a deep 
color, brown 
cheeked, thin 
skinned, 
plentifully 
and flavored to a 
It is difficult to be- 
lieve that the orange is not a 
native product of American soil, so 
splendidly does it nurture this 
Iruit It IS only a few hundred 
)ears that the orange has been 
known on this continent, and we 
are indebted to Spanish cavaliers for its 
introduction. Its home is supposed to be 
in .Southeastern Asia. 

California produces a superior quality of 
oranges, some perhaps equal to the " Indian 
Rivers." Charles Dudley Warner writes that 
as late as April, 1877, he could not find an excellent quality 
of oranges in California, but now quantities of delicious 
native fruits are easily obtainable. The question is often asked if it is feasible 
for one to attempt orange culture in California with small capital ? In all 
orobability twenty times the number of men who are interested in the busi- 
ness now could become wealthy if engaged in intelligent culture of the fruit. 



A BEE RANCH 

IN LOWER 
CALIFORNIA. 



BANANAS, PINEAPPLES. 



299 



Energy, pluck, patience, and faith in liis Maker, are pronounced good qualities 
in a man wlio starts out to make his fortune in any brancli of fruit raising. 

Grape fruit is produced in Florida and the other Southern States, as is also 
the shaddock, a coarse, pumpkin-shaped fruit of the same variety, weighing 
from three to five pounds. The persimmon, lime, fig, prune, guava, pineapple, 
banana, etc., are cultivated in the same region. In the cultivation of the banana 
the utmost care must be taken in selecting the best soil for the tree. The 
average time required to bring it to fruition is about one year, but if planted 
in one locality it may mature in nine months, while in another, where there is, ap- 
parently, only a slight difference in the soil, from fifteen to sixteen months may 
be required. The shoots are set fifteen feet apart, thus giving the growing tree 
plenty of room to spread its broad, translucent leaves, under whose shelter is 
partially hidden the single bunch of fruit which it is its mission to bear. Having 
performed its duty, the tree proper dies, while fresh shoots come forth to produce 
in time more food for the sustenance of its master, man. People remote from 
the home of the banana are not grateful enough for this palatable, nourishing 
fruit. They nibble it simply as the relish or finishing touch of a meal, unconscious 
of the fact that it forms almost the v/hole subsistence of millions of natives of the 
Tropics. It is claimed that a banana contains as much nourishment as a pound 
of beef-steak, but the Northerner clings to'the beef at twenty-five cents a pound 
in preference to the humble banana at " two for five. " The banana harvest 
does not depend upon the time of year, but upon the time of planting. We have 
a continual banana season, although the best market is between the first of 
March and the last of June. The large bunches, often weighing si.xty pounds, 
are cut while green by machinery, and are caught by the laborer, as they 
fall, without breaking or bruising a single fruit. The bunches for transporta- 
tion are wrapped in the dead leaves of the plant, which are used wet to 
insure pliability. The growth of the banana industry in this country is almost 
marvelous. Each of the large cities, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 
receives from seventeen to thirty thousand bunches a day. As in other 
branches of fruit-raising, the supply does not equal the demand. We pay 
lamaica alone ^1,000,000 a year for bananas, and the possibilities in the way 
of cultivation of this fruit should be a stimulus to encourage the industry. 
There are many " banana walks " along the irrigation canals in our Southern 
States, and there is room for many more. The enterprising young man 
with a few hundred dollars will find rich returns for intelligent investment 
in banana fields. 

Pineapple culture in this country is still in its infancy. The largest planta- 
tion in Florida is owned by Thomas E. Richards, the pioneer in the industry, 
who began to plant in 1879. It is not yet known how much of our land is 
adapted to the pineapple, nor are the best methods of culture yet determined. 



300 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



Much can be learned from the pioneer £;^rowers, who have already achieved 
encouraging results, but the pineapple planter is still an experimenter. The 
number of crops that a plant can profitably yield is a disputed question. 
Reports show that three crops are the limit under certain conditions of culture, 
four crops can be grown under other conditions, while one grower maintains 
that five crops can be easily yielded before the plants need to be replaced. A 
larger capital for investment — not less than $3000 or $4000 — will be required 




VALLEY JKKIGATION IN SOUTHERN CALIKURNIA. 



to yield satisfactory returns in this branch of fruit culture, than in any other. 
While the experiment may be regarded as more or less hazardous, the returns 
are often gratifying. In some cases $700 an acre, with a net of $300, was 
reported, and the results are quick. The orange requires seven or eight years 
to reach fruition, and the pineapple plant bears a full crop in a year and a half 
from the time of setting. This delicious fruit, whether canned or fresh, will 
always be \\\it piece dc rcsisiaiicc of every thrifty housewife, and until its culture 



GRAPES. 301 

becomes a flourishing American industry she must continue to pay from twenty- 
five to seventy-five cents apiece for these luxurious necessities. 

Of the progress made in the cultivation of the smaller garden fruits com- 
paratively little has been written. They have been overshadowed by the larger 
enterprises devoted to the culture of larger fruits, and it has been said of them 
that e.xcept to tlie enthusiast they are, like Heaven, "objects of special interest 
and general neglect." 

Our greatest fruit industry is grape culture. It is strange that no foreign 
grapes have yet been raised east of the Rocky Mountains. The experimenter 
has tried again and again to propagate European varieties, but all his efforts 
have been unsuccessful except in California. A few years ago E. W. Bull 
began experimenting with the wild fox-grape, and his efforts have met with 
gratifying success. The Ives Seedling, Lady Woodruff and the luscious Concord 
are direct descendants of the humble "Fox." The Delaware, Isabella, and 
Catawba are accidental varieties. 

The American wild grape and its cultivated varieties are peculiarly adapted 
for wine making, and it is encouraging to learn that France, which produces 
finer table grapes than any other country, is experimenting with our grapes for 
wine purposes. It is probable that the United States will eventually supply the 
world with the best vineyard varieties. Less than half a century ago a venture- 
some grower of grapes in the Lake Keuka district, N. Y., sent to New York 
city his full crop, consisting of fifty pounds. To his surprise, the entire ship- 
ment was sold. Growing reckless with his success, he sent during the following 
year about 250 pounds, and broke the market! In 1S91 about 20,000 tons 
were consumed through the markets of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. 
During the same year California alone manufactured 16,500,000 gallons of wine, 
besides producing 235,526 pounds of table grapes, and preparing 2,197,463 
boxes of raisins, with prospects of increasing the yield of raisins within the 
next five years to 10,000,000 boxes. In the vineyards alone 100,422 men were 
employed, and the importance of the industry can scarcely be estimated. 

Raisin making is a comparatively simple process. On the fruit ranches in 
California the grapes are simply cut from the stem and left on the ground for 
the sun to dry. 

Statistics show that New York .State produced 60,687 pounds of grapes for 
table use during the year and made 2,528,250 gallons of wine, employing 
25,500 men for the work. However, the figures do not indicate that the con- 
sumption of wine has increased alarmingly, but that the wine consumer has 
transferred his patronage to home-made goods. It may be of interest here to 
note that the largest wine cask in the world is in the Lake Erie district. It is 
made of Ohio oak and holds 36,000 gallons. California can boast of the largest 
as well as of the smallest vineyard in the world. The former is at Tehama and 

19 



302 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

contains 3800 acres, to which 1000 acres are to be added within a year. The 
smallest vineyard is in Santa Barbara county, and consists of a single vine 
which was planted by a Mexican woman about sixty-nine years ago. Its trunk 
has a diameter of twelve inches, its branches extend over an area of 1 2,000 
feet, and it produces annually from 10,000 to 12,000 pounds of grapes, of the 
famous Mission variety, the bunches frequently weighing six or seven pounds 
each. The old lady to whose thrift the present owners are indebted died in 
1865, at the age of 107. 

The total number of acres included in the vineyards of the various States 
and Territories is 307,575, giving employment to 200,780 laborers. The aver- 
age number employed in the outdoor work, in the cultivating of the fruit, is 
one person to three acres. As growers become more familiar with the use of 
spraying apparatus and fungicides, the harvests will be more certain. It may 
be a long time before we shall achieve a parallel to the grapes of Eshcol, 
though our own product guarantees great possibilities in viticulture. 

Aside from the small fruit farms, and hot-houses for the cultivation of black- 
berries, raspberries, and strawberries, much of the small fruit for market comes 
from the woods and marshes, where they grow in a semi-wild state. Their yield 
as regards quantity and market price, is almost marvelous. 

In many New England localities, the small farms that once were the 
source of livelihood of the Yankee and his family have weather-stained boards 
across their front gates bearing the sign, "For Sale," or "To Let." The pear 
and apple orchards, clover meadows, and small fields, well enough for the sedate 
fathers, are too small to bound the aspirations and energies of the younger 
generation. The soil which has borne harvests and fruitage for ten generations 
is not so responsive as the soil of the New West. The young men who do not 
turn their attention to the more lucrative trades and professions of the cities, 
venture into farming on a large scale in the West, where the indolent tiller reaps 
almost as rich harvests as the energetic one. The yielding capacity of the wheat 
farms of the New West is almost incredible. If the native grass is burned off 
or turned under, and seed is scattered on top of a light plowing, the tender 
grain springs up and yields good returns with but little effort on the part of the 
tiller. On the other hand, when great capital is invested, improved methods 
and machinery used, and efficient labor employed, wheat farming in these regions 
yields returns that would seem incredible to the old-fashioned farmer. The sup- 
ply of grain is limited only by the acreage under cultivation. From 1 2,000 to 
40,000 acres are comprised in single farms, and the number of buildings, grana- 
ries, elevators and windmills on each give the appearance at a short distance 
of little villages. Farming on such a scale is simply a business venture, con- 
trolled by monopolies or wealthy capitalists, who leave the entire charge of the 
business with superintendents. About 1 50 men are employed during the harvest 



THE COTTON FIELDS OF THE SOUTH. 



303 



season, with daily wages averaging ^1.50 per capita, and tliousands of dollars 
are invested in machinery and horses. The small farmer in the West has no 
chance in his competition with monopolies, and while companies are becoming 
wealthy, the communities receive little of the benefit. There is no home-life on 
these large Western farms, and the only society is that of the laborers, often 
uneducated foreigners. 

The great fertile district extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
Panhandle of Texas, from the curving boundary lines of the Carolinas, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana 
to the Rio Grande River, has been called the 
Land of Cotton. The most beautiful, as 
well as the most typical plantations are those 
in the valleys of the Red and the Mississippi 
Rivers, where the soil is a rich red loam, 
easily cultivated as well as productive and 
responsive. The climate is mild and salubri- 
ous, and all natural conditions are favorable 
to the cultivation of the cotton. In all its 
different staees of orowth it is the most 
interesting of those plants that fall under 
the class commonly designated as " useiul." 
Its very seed is a mystery of the life 
principle, for that small, woolly, rusty little 
cocoon conceals the warp and woof of the 
great proportion of humanity's covering. 
After lying all winter in the neglected 
heaps about the old gins and barns, the 
seed are tossed into the moist earth, and 
soon the three-leaved plants appear, run- 
ning in long straight rows for miles across 
the fields of bottom-land. The blossom, 
appearing as a pink bud, becomes white 
petaled, filling the land with a rare fragrance. All the while the process of 
cultivation goes on, the dark-faced laborers plowing, thinning, hoeing, and 
weeding. It is a leisurely work which suits the indolent nature of the negro, 
the ordained cultivator of cotton. 

During the summer drouth, the green stalks turn brown, and the leaves 
fall away, giving place to the cooped boll with its contents of snow. Soon 
these bolls burst, and out comes the fine dry fabric. " Cotton-pickin' time " 
begins, the merriest, jolliest, "ilushest" season the darkies ever know. With 
good-natured hardihood they desert their town homes, for it doesn't pay to 




WIND BRRAK OF 

EUCAI\irUS TKEES, TO 

IROIELI OKCHARDS. 



304 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

tend horses, run errands, nurse and cook, while the vast fields of cotton 
stretching beyond invite their nimble fingers, and promise pay ior actual 
number of pounds picked. 

Some of these plantations are small colonies in themselves. Their bound- 
aries include many miles square of prairie and timber lands. Upon each is the 
store for general merchandise, a post-office, church, and school house, besides 
the mill, gin, press, compress, and warehouses. There are the renters' houses, 
the "hands' " cabins, each with its truck patch and pig pen, the owner's house, 
with its long, rose-bowered verandas, its beautiful lawns and flower gardens, the 
stables, barns, and carriage houses. There are an ice-house, a dairy, an apple- 
house and smoke house, and buildings innumerable. Fruit orchards and vine- 
yards, hammocks and rustic seats, all contribute to make the life of the 
Southerners as enviable as possible. About these old plantations lingers the 
atmosphere of ante-bellum grandee life. Things are done on a large scale. 
Supplies are laid in by the barrel and hogshead, and produce is planted and 
garnered accordingly. Yet everything is subservient to King Cotton, who fills 
the measure of the hearts and expectations of his subjects. Year after year, 
and crop after crop, bring no great profits to the owner. He does not seem to 
take into consideration the difference between the former times, when he owned 
both labor and product, and the present conditions, with its divided interest, 
daily wages, inequality of labor, and decreasing capabilities, which have warped 
the conditions of the industry since the war. Paid labor is not equal in many 
ways to slave labor, for the slaves worked for the interest of their masters. As 
many as five hundred slaves often grew up together on one plantation. They 
knew but one home and one occupation. Their first toddling steps were 
between the rows of young cotton, and they learned to sir.g the cotton field 
songs as soon as they could talk. Their wants were few ; their knowledge of 
life and its possibilities was bounded by the blue rim of the horizon which set 
on their master's plantation. Now they are a set of shiftless nomads, wearyhig 
of the new broom of their spasmodic energies at one plantation, and moving 
on to a fitful spell of work at another. This in a great measure accounts for 
the uncertainties. Employer and employee have no longer a mutual interest. 
As for white cotton-hands, they do not pay. The hot seasons are too intense 
for them and the returns too precarious. Yet the Southener clings to his cotton 
fields. He cannot believe that Egyptian and other foreign cottons are compet- 
ing successfully with his. He cannot understand why it is that he makes as 
many bales to the acre as he did in the old time yet clears no money. He 
only knows that if raised at all it must be raised in large quantities. The cost 
of labor is nearly equal to the returns of the crop. He hauls his bales into 
town to be sampled and bid upon by merchants and buyers, and is satisfied if 
the net profits are sufficient to pay off last year's store-bills. The system of 



THE COTTON FIELDS OF THE SOUTH. 305 

monthly and yearly credit is, of itself, the ruin of the Southern farmer. He is 
even handicapped by his tenants. He must advance them provisions while they 
are working in his employ. If his crop runs short he is in debt to his merchants 
and his tenants are in debt to him. He has not a diversity of crops to fall back 
upon in an unfavorable year. So all depends upon the season, upon the drouth, 
or overflow, or boll-worm. 

Yet the business possesses a peculiar fascination. There are the green 
fields in the spring-time ; the blossom fields in the summer ; the brown fields of 
early autumn ; and the snow fields of harvest-time. There are the pickers in 
wagon-loads and tramping crowds, weary and care-free. They sing all day as 
they fill their baskets, joking and depreciating each other's skill as they wait 
about the weigher's stand at night for their weights and pay, and singing again 
to the merry tinkle of the banjo, as they lounge about their cabin doors before 
bedtime. There are the gins with their creaking machinery and snow-drifting 
lint room ; presses with the ties and bagging, rolling out great bales, which are 
crowded into a sixth of their original size by the mighty elbows of the com- 
presses. Then there are the wagons, loaded bale upon bale, jogging along the 
road, the happy tenant driving, wife and children perched upon the bales, 
" goin' to trade." There are visions of cotton exchanges, where gambling in 
futures runs high, and millions change hands every day ; of huge vessels at the 
seaport and long freight cars in the inland, laden and groaning with the pre- 
cious freight. 

One of the devices of greatest interest to the visitor in many parts of the 
West is the device which makes man a special providence in sections which were 
fiinnerly arid wastes because of lack of rain. In an admirable discussion of 
the subject of irrigation, General Irwin quotes the phrase " irrigation makes 
homes for millions, better than the rain makes homes." In former times irriga- 
tion would undoubtedly have been regarded as a device of Satan, since it 
attempts to supplement the work of Providence in making the earth fruitful. 
The change in twenty years by the introduction of water into sections where no 
water was has been marvelous, but it is only prophetic of the still greater 
changes to come. It is not many years since the maps of the Western country 
were interspersed with forbidding dots, marked deserts, which were universally 
regarded as waste places forever. In the map of the near future there will be 
no American desert. Irrigation will have made almost every acre of land 
available, and those sections which seem to-day almost beyond redemption by 
artificial fertilization, will undoubtedly yield to the increasing inventiveness and 
ingenuity of man. 

The arid area in this country, according to Major Powell, is fifteen hundred 
miles in its widest part, from east to west, and a thousand miles from north to 
south, containing over a million of square miles, over six hundred millions of 
acres, and constituting about one-third the entire area of the country. These 



3o6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

statements make the importance of irrigation evident at the first glance. 
Within the hmits of this natural desert lie Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, 
New Mexico, Idaho, and parts of Montana, of the Dakotas, of Texas, of Kansas, 
of Nebraska, of Washington, of Oregon, and of California. The Secretary of the 
Interior, in his report for 1891, declared "that 120,000,000 acres that are now- 
desert may be redeemed by irrigation so as to produce the cereals, fruits, and 
garden products possible in the climate where the lands are located." It is to 
the Mormons that we owe the first practical and successful use of irrigation on 
a large scale ; a scale so large and so impressive that it became a great object- 
lesson in the whole West. There are now under the influence of irrigation 
nearly four million acres of land, penetrated by more than fifteen thousand miles 
of artificial water-ways in the form of canals and ditches. The condition of the 
cultivator of irrigated lands is, in one important respect, more assured than that 
of the cultivator of lands within the rain belt, for while rains fail, and droughts 
are of frequent occurrence, to the disaster and discouragement of the cultivator, 
irriiration is unfailino-. 

In California, the price of water is regulated by law, and it is likely that 
the other States and territories in which irrigation is used will, sooner or later, 
regulate the matter just as other States regulate and control the freight 
charges of the railroads. The greatest need in irrigated countries is the 
building of large reservoirs for water storage, for the purpose of securing an 
equalization of distribution. The dry regions contain hills and valleys, and the 
soil which is furnished by the valley is supplied with water by the mountains, 
and all that is needed is the utilization and equalization of the supply which 
nature furnishes. The main question now is how shall this be done. The 
Secretary of the Interior, in the report already quoted from, says that private 
corporations and associations are now substantially given the field of water 
supply tor that domain which may be redeemed by irrigation, and that this field 
is being rapidly seized upon. The United States does not retain control, but 
establishes States or Territories, by which the control is handed over to corpora- 
tions. In the Secretary's opinion the General Government should not release 
altogether its hold upon water supplies. No one can compute the future popu- 
lousness and value of the arid Territory, and no one can compute, therefore, the 
future value of privileges which are now being given away. It will not be long 
before the matter of water supply will be one of the highest national import- 
ance, both as regards the value of the control to the Government and its 
importance to settlers who are dependent upon it. In a recent message to 
Congress, the President said " the Government should not part with its 
ownership of the water sources, except on the condition of insuring water to 
settlers at reasonable rates." The appliances of irrigation add not a little to 
the picturesqueness of the country, and the wind-mills often may be made as 
effective as the mills of Holland, if proportion and color are taken into account. 



The riarvelous Story of Our Great Industries. 




Marble is, of all stones used for building or 
sculpture, the best known and the most anciently 
used. The earliest records of human architecture 
tell of its employment. The Egyptians used it 
before they built the Pyramids. The temples and 
palaces of Greece were built of it ; and it was the 
boast of an Emperor that he had found Rome 
brick and had left it marble. From Mount Pente- 
licus and from the Isle of Paros came the snowy 
stone of which the Parthenon and its fellow-eems 
of architecture were built, and in which were 
wrought the masterpieces of Phidias and Praxi- 
ft»^'r=ii^ii^'-' ' ^°*^ . -n«=^:^ teles, while the artists of Rome sought their sup- 
plies at Carrara, on the Gulf of Spezzia. 
It is a far cry from Mount Pentelicus to Otter Creek. Yet the fame of the 
former for this beautiful stone is rapidly being transferred to the latter. The 
hills that border that humble stream in Central Vermont are green without, as 
their name implies. But within they have been found to have hearts of snowy 
marble, rivaling that of Italy and Greece in purity and texture. A considerable 
quantity of it is perfecdy suited to the finest statuary work, while the amount 
available for architectural purposes is practically inexhaustible. 

This Rudand County marble, for which Vermont is famous, is of the age 
of the Trenton limestone of New York, and forms a huge layer, 2000 feet 
thick, underlying hundreds of square miles of country. Not all portions of the 
layer, however, are valuable. Where it crops out at the surface of the ground, 
or nearly reaches it, the upper part, for a depth of from ten to fifty feet, is 
worthless, because of the action of the weather. At West Rutland the vein of 
perfectly pure statuary marble, rivaling that of Paros and Carrara, is only four 
feet thick. But there are fifty feet more of superb clouded and colored marble 
for architectural use. At Sutherland Falls the vein of buildinof marble is 
seventy-five feet thick, and at Pittsford it is more than six hundred feet thick, 
with scarcely a seam or a flaw. Other less valuable deposits of marble, white, 

307 



3o8 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



clouded, or colored, are found at Lee, Mass., Tuckahoe and Sing Sing, N. Y., 
Louisa County, Va., and other places in the Appalachian Mountain belt. At 
Shoreham, Vt., and Glen's Falls, N. Y., black marble is found. Burlington, 

Vt, furnishes the beauti- 
ful variegated " Winoo- 
ski " marble. But the 
mountains of Tennessee 
are the chief source of 
this last-named kind, 
yielding seemingly end- 
less quantities of fine- 
textured stone, colored 
in every imaginable hue 
and tint, and veined and 
streaked and mottled in 
the most bewilderingly 
beautiful manner. 

So it came to pass 
that when tne hardy 
Green Mountain farmer 
found his fields becoming 
sterile and unprofitable, 
he looked below the sur- 
face, and there found a 
richer and surer harvest 
than ever had appeared 
above. And while on 
the Gulf of Spezzia the 
quarrymen clung to the 
primitive methods of 
work, slow, laborious, 
and wasteful, the New 
Englanders utilized in 
quarrying the latest 
devices of Yankee 
ingenuity. 

The first thing to do 
is to clear away the sur- 
face rock, which heat and cold and other conditions have partially decomposed 
and rendered worthless. This is largely done by blasting, great care being 
exercised to use light charges, acting upward, so as not to injure the sound 




IN THE QUARRY. 
{A Marble Quarry in I'ertuont.) 



HOW TO GET THE STONES OUT. 



309 



marble below. After this "cap-rock" is thus removed and a "sound" floor 
secured tliere is no more blasting. The stone is too valuable to be shattered 
into useless fragments. 

Instead of gunpowder, steam-power is used. There are two kinds of 
"channeling machines " in use. One drives a set of chisels, the other a 
series of drills. Both effect the same purpose, the cutting of straight, narrow, 
parallel channels in the 
marble floor, five or six 
feet deep and perhaps 
the same distance apart. 
Other channels are then 
cut at risrht angles to 
the first, dividing the 
floor into squares. One 
of these huge blocks is 
next broken loose, by 
means of wedges, and 
lifted out. Into the 
cavity thus formed a 
workman gets down, 
and directs a drill or set 
of chisels horizontally 
against the bases of the 
other blocks, which are 
thus one by one cut 
off — "gadding," the 
work is called — and 
lifted out. When all 
are removed, a fresh 
"floor" is presented 
and the "channeling 
machines " are set at 
work again, cutting 
their deep, narrow tren- 
ches and dividing the "floor" into another series of blocks. The cost of thus 
cutting marble and raising it from the quarry is from seventy-five cents to a 
dollar the cubic foot. 

These huge cubes of marble are taken from the quarry to the mill, to 
be cut into smaller blocks or slabs for building purposes. The cutting is 
done by means of gangs of horizontal saws, made of soft iron and having 
00 teeth, but being fed with sand and water. They are operated by steam 




:&S#"' 



'!&»... 



SLUICE-GATE. 



31 



o 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



or water-power. The polishing of the blocks and slabs is also done by power. 

The pieces of marble are placed in a " rubbing-bed " and ground and 

polished with sand and emery by a rubber, which works on them with either 

a rotary or a to-and-fro motion. 

Pieces of marble of extraordinary size, for monolithic columns, obelisks, 

etc., are cut and fashioned in the same 
way. Much of the fluting and other 
carving on ornamental stonework is done 
b) machinery in the mills Sometimes 
hand caivm^ is done tht re also, and 
sometimes it is Ictt until the stones are 
actually in place in the structure of 
which they aie to Amiu a part 

The AnKiican marble industry is a 
compaiativel) youno one Itbegan about 
1S36, with the burning of some of the 




Wlr 



surface marble, at West 

Rutland, for lime. Then a 

few tombstones were cut 

After a dozen years systematic 

quarrying was begun ; but it 

was dirncult to persuade the barrel-hoist and tunnel through the washburn mill. 

public that Vermont marble was 

as good as that imported from Europe. That it is as good, if not better, is, 

however, now amply established, and the quarrying of it has become a mammoth 

industry. Where once were barren sheep-pastures, worth a few dollars an acre, 

are now vast and increasing caverns, with snowy walls, from which busy toilers 



OLD- TIME MIL LING. 



311 



armed with steel and steam have taken millions of dollars worth of stone, 
enoimh of it, and oood enoucrh, to have built all Athens in the ao^e of Pericles. 

"The old order changeth, giving place to new." But only the means 
are new, and not the ends. Before history began, bread was the staff of life, 
and in the Stone Age the grain of the field was ground into meal for food. 
Among the earliest im- 
plements of human in- 
genuity were the two 
stones between which 
the corns of wheat or 
barley were crushed, 
and those very imple- 
ments are in use to-day 
in savage lands. Civili- 
zation still clings to 
bread as the staff of 
life, and still grinds 
the grain between two 
stones. They are large 
stones, now, and they 
are operated by steam 
or water power. But 
the result is the same 
in kind as it was un- 
counted ages ago. 

The well-nigh imi- 
versal method of grind- 
ing grain is that of the 
common village mill. 
Two huge disc-shaped 
stones are placed one 
above the other, the 
faces which come to- 
gether being grooved 
in a peculiar fashion. 

Through the upper stone there is a hole, through which the grain trickles from 
a hopper and enters the narrow space between the stones. Then, as the 
upper stone whirls swiftly round and round upon its axis, the grain is finely 
ground, thereafter to be screened, so as to separate the fine flour from the 
coarser bran. To this day, with few exceptions, that is the process used 
in flour mills, great and small. 




SHOOTING A WELL. 



313 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



About 1870, however, some millers in Hungary began experimenting 
with a view of improving the milling process, and the result was the Walz 
Muhl, or cylinder-mill, called also the gradual reduction mill, and, in this 
country, the "new process." In this system no millstones are used, but, 
in their stead, many pairs of small, horizontal steel rollers, their surfaces 
traversed by small, sharp grooves, sometimes spiral, sometimes parallel 

with the axes. These pairs of 
rollers are arranged in sets of at 
least three, one above the other, 
with a space between. The grain 
passes between the uppermost pair 
and is crushed. Falling through 
the intervening space it is cooled, 
and then goes between the second 
pair and is crushed more finely. 
Again it is cooled by falling to the 
third set, and again is crushed 
more finely still. The finest grades 
of flour are thus passed through 
eighteen or twenty sets of rollers. 
This is the " new process " 
used in the great mills of Minne- 
sota, perhaps the most important 
seat of the flour-making industry 
in the world. Here the famous and 
picturesque Falls of St. Anthony, 
on the Mississippi River, furnish 
practically unlimited water-power, 
through systems of turbine wheels. 
Anthony Trollope — not the An- 
thony for whom the falls were 
named — once said that he never 
could believe, until he actually saw 
it, that there was a place, inhabited 
by rational men, called Minneapolis. The name is a queer mixture of Indian 
and Greek. But never mind. Philology may stand aghast, but all the same 
a very great share of the world must get its bread from this same Minneapolis. 
Here huge mills form a city in themselves. For their supply cartage would 
be absurd ; the railroads run directly into them. Daily long trains bear in 
the harvest of the wheat fields and bear out the finished flour, the finest in 
the world. There is no tumult or clatter; the thousands of cylinders arc 




GUARDING A WILD-CAT WELL. 






55-H 

s - <o 

-S z 

S^ ?! 
IT — 

2.S z 

£ 5 l^ 

"S . 

3 - - 

now 

t3 O ** 

• !^r 

"S > 



0-- c ni 

t^ zr ~. 

■^ ?s o 

s^ "^ ™ «J 
D a c -.i 

5 f .«) 

= S.hO 



3S 



K °. I 

£,d O 

'S-g.E 

13 ft n 
5-p (ft 





S " 

U m 



35 -i 



O ^ 

a -oo 



.2 I a 






(0 

00 









m 

Li. 

o 

u 

-I 
H 
H 
< 
(D 






° 2 s 



IMPROVED METHODS AND VAST OUTPUT. 



3^3 



whirling with only a low, continuous hum. There is no dust in the air, with 
its death-dealing power. Once mills were pervaded with a fine, impalpable 
dust. This one day exploded, with the force of gunpowder, wrecking one of 
the largest mills and destroying many lives. Since then elaborate systems of 
air-currents have been devised, keeping the atmosphere of the mills always free 
from dust, and cool. 

Thousands of barrels of flour daily are turned out of one of these mam. 
moth mills, and thousands of empty barrels must be daily received to contain: 
the snowy product. With a task of such magnitude on hand, the old-fashioned 
cooper's shop is use- 
less. Great factories 
have taken its place, 
where saws and 
knives, driven by 
steam power, in whole- 
sale fashion transform 
forests into flour bar- 
rels. These go in 
towering loads to the 
mills, and are hurried 
in the grasp of an end- 
less chain to where the 
perfected flour is pour- 
ing from the whirring 
rollers and through 
the quivering silken 
screens. 

Starting from bins 
in the upper story, the 
wheat travels through 
the vast building, from 
floor to floor, from side 

to side, untouched by human hands ; now being cleansed from impurities, now 
being crushed finer and finer, now being sifted again and again ; until at 
last, encased in barrels of one hundred and ninety-six pounds each, it issues 
forth by the carload to feed the millions of the world. Half a billion bushels, 
or thirty billion pounds, are the inconceivable figures that represent the 
annual wheat crop of America ; and the mills of Minneapolis and Rochester 
and other cities are worthy, in magnitude and perfection of equipment, to deal 
with the large share of it that forms their grist. True, they are doing, in kind, 
only what the squalid wild woman of the cave-dwelling race did with stone 




GAS WELLS. 



3T4 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

bowl and grinder. But in degree, how different ! And though the end be die 
same, in means how has the old order changed and given place to the new ! _ 

The use of petroleum in various forms is of unremembered origm. 
Nineveh and Babylon knew it well, the "slime" of the Old Testament being 
merely crude petroleum, partially evaporated. To this day the oil wells of 
Is, on the Euphrates, which supplied "slime" or mortar for the buildmg of 
Babylon, are still flowing. Other ancient wells are in the Ionian Islands ; at 
Amiano, Italy; on the Persian Shore of the Caspian Sea, and in Burmah. 
Pliny tells of the use of this oil in lamps in his day, and the city of Genoa 
was laro-ely lighted with it centuries ago. But it did not play a great part m 
the world's economy until an American "struck oil" in the latter half of the 

present century. . 

As early as 1819 petroleum was collected from wells m Ohio and put 
to various uses. In 1850 the manufacture of the oil from coal was begun, 
and rapidly increased until it became an important industry. But not yet 
was the true vein struck. The honor of at last doing this was reserved for 
Colonel G. L. Drake, who, in 1858, began to bore, on Oil Creek, Venango 
County, Pa., an artesian well. "What for?" his neighbors asked. "For 
oil " was his reply ; and they laughed him to scorn. But on August 28, 1859, 
at 'a depth of 71 feet, he "struck oil." It flowed at the rate of 400 gallons 
a day and he sold it for 55 cents a gallon ; and his neighbors stopped laughing. 
Seldom has the world seen such a rush for wealth as the oil country then 
beheld. Wells were sunk everywhere. A forest of derricks arose. Farms that 
had been worth five dollars were largely purchased at a thousand dollars an 
acre One farmer sold out for a round million. Another would not sell, but 
got S3000 a day in royalties on wells sunk on his farm. Fabulous fortunes 
were amassed. One well, the Noble, in a litrie more than a year, yielded 
500000 barrels without pumping. The principal oil field was in Pennsyl- 
vania, but many wells were sunk in adjacent counties of New York and in 
Ohio and West Virginia. 

In time the freely flowing wells began to fail and pumping had to be re- 
sorted to under which process the yield was maintained, though the profits were 
slicrhtly lessened. Another system of renewing the flow of exhausted wells was 
invented some years ago and is widely and successfully practiced. This is 
called " shooting," or " torpedoing." A gallon or so of nitro-glycerine, enclosed 
in a loner and slender tin can. is lowered to the bottom of the well and exploded. 
The shock shatters the oil-bearing slate and sandstone for a considerable dis- 
tance around the bore, and jars it much further, and the result is an immediate 
rush of oil, often spurting high in air, like a geyser. This process is patented 
and the work is done by a single company, whose agents drive about the oil 
country, over rough roads, in a most reckless fashion, with cans of nitro-gly- 



THE GREAT PETROLEUM PIPE LINES. 



315 



cerine under the wagon-seat. Now and then a jolt of the wagon causes an 
explosion. There is a tremendous noise and a hole in the ground ; that is all. 
Man, horse, and wagon are literally blown to atoms. " Moonlighting " is the 
name applied to the surreptitious "shooting" of wells by unauthorized persons 
. — owners of wells who thus evade paying royalty to the company holding the 
patent. 

" Wild-cat" wells, so called, are shafts sunk secretly, or so guarded that 
none but the owners can approach them to ascertain their value. Such wells 
are surrounded by armed sentries, who promptly repel curious visitors at 
the rifle's muzzle. If the well proves profitable, the owners are able thus 




TRANSPORTING OIL FROM THE PIPE-LINES TO THE 
CARS. 



to secure other territory around it 
before the price is enhanced by the 
knowledge that they have " struck 
oil." 

The crude oil is stored in huge 
tanks, and then shipped to the refi- 
neries, at New York and elsewhere. 
Once it was all conveyed in casks. 
Then husje iron tanks, resembline a 
locomotive boiler in size and shape, were made, each being mounted on a flat 
railroad car and holding about 25,000 gallons. This method of transportation 
is still much used. In 1865, however, another plan was devised, which is now 
the characteristic method. This is the pumping of the oil through pipes, laid 
on or under the ground. These pipes are from four to six inches in diameter, 
and on the long lines have pumping stations at intervals of about twenty-five 
miles. Twenty thousand barrels of oil may be sent daily through a six-inch 
pipe. The oil country is fairly gridironed with these pipe-lines ; and there are 
two lines reaching from Olean to New York Bay, 300 miles, and many others 
from fifty to 1 75 miles long. 



3i6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

In late years natural gas has become an important product of the oil fields. 
Exhausted oil wells often furnish it, and so do wells driven for the purpose. 
The gas rushes from the well in a powerful current, and when ignited forms a 
perpetual torch perhaps a hundred feet high, a very " pillar of fire. " This gas 
is conveyed through pipes to towns and cities, where it is used in place of the 
manufactured gas for illuminating purposes. It is also much used for fuel in 
private houses and in manufacturing establishments. It is found to be cheaper 
than coal, its fires more easily regulated, and the unpleasant features of smoke, 
cinders, and ashes are entirely avoided. 

Although the day of phenomenal "gushers" among oil wells seems well- 
nigh past, the industry maintains mammoth proportions. Thus in the month of 
May, 1S92, in the Pennsylvania field alone 183 new wells were sunk, 43 of them 
being dry. The product of the new wells was 7795 barrels. In 1S89 the oil 
fields of Pennsylvania and New York produced 2 1,486,403 barrels (of 42 gallons 
each,) those of Ohio, 12,471,965, and thoseof West Virginia, Colorado, California, 
Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Kansas and Texas enough to bring the total for the 
United States up to 34,820,306 barrels. That produced in Ohio, Indiana, and 
California was used chiefly for fuel, and the rest for illuminating purposes, ex- 
cepting 109,891 barrels used for lubricating. The total value of the year's 
yield in its crude state was $26,554,652. The total product of the United 
States from 1859 to 1889, inclusive, v/as 407,985,503 barrels, or 17,135,391,126 
gallons of crude oil. 



The Thrilling Story of Life on the Frontier. 



ILLUSTRATED BY FREDERIC REMINGTON. 




A CllF.YEN'NE. 



MONG the unique and interesting figures that have en- 
tered into the history of the West is the squatter. His 
species has become almost extinct. He will soon be 
driven out, ground down, and reduced by the leveling 
arm of civilization to an ordinary American citizen, with 
every trace of picturesqueness lost. He may still be 
seen in the more thickly settled regions of the West. 
His people are a mongrel set. They generally came 
from one of the Middle States, a family at a time, in an 
old ox-wagon, whose cover was drawn in at the ends 
like the back of an old-fashioned sunbonnet, and from under whose tattered 
edges a row of pink-faced, white-haired children peeped out upon the new 
Canaan of their rightful possessions. Inside, wielding his long whip, sat the 
solemn pioneer. Outside, walking behind a retinue consisting of a cow, a calf, 
a sad-looking horse, and several yellow dogs, came the wind-tanned mother and 
the eldest, bare-legged boy. Over the wheels of the wagon dangled a few rush- 
bottomed chairs, an old pine bedstead, and the simplest household utensils. The 
father chewed his tobacco and cracked his whip, the children chattered, the big 
boy shied clods of earth at the quail and meadow lark, and the mother trudged 
on in silence. 

When they came to a place that suited them, where there was timber, light, 

sandy soil, and water, they constructed a rude cabin and settled down for a 

season. It did not occur to them to ask whose land it was. They did not want 

to sign deeds, pay taxes, and build fences ; they simply wanted a home where 

20 5^7 



3iS THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

the father could return after his fishing and hunting and the mother could piece 
her rag-quilts and dip her snuff in peace. They cut a few poles and built a 
rude log cabin, roofed it with brush and sod, and smoothed the earthen floor. 
The old chairs and three-lesfsfed bedstead that had been nailed to the wall soon 
gave it a home-like air. A bee-gum spring was sunk, a brushwood fence was 
built for the calf, and a clearing made for the little garden. When they had 
found out the nearest mill their wants were supplied. They had no need for a 
school, a church, a physician, or a preacher. The mother knew of herbs and 
liniments, and as for education, the children needed to learn only to swim and 
climb, to ride and shoot, and, later in life, to shift for themselves. 

But often the squatter does not even have a rude cabin to boast of If he 
has the roving spirit that cannot setde down long enough in any one place to 
make it worth his while to construct a cabin, he will pitch a tent, and he and his 
family will live there in the most aboriginal fashion for a season or two, perhaps, 
before moving on. He may be a trapper, and in that case he gets a fair liveli- 
hood if his luck is eood. When the owner decides to claim his land the 
squatter and his family move on. Perhaps the mother will fret a little over her 
ash-hopper, her setting hens, and her turnip patch; but the children like the 
travel, and the oldest boy is wild to ride the first mustang pony he has broken. 
They have prospered in the West, and this time the cart, followed by the inevit- 
able yellow dogs, is loaded. There are plenty of other spring branches and 
tempting locations. The whole West is before them from which to make a 
more fortunate selection for a home. 

In sharp contradistinction to the squatter is the settler, who knows the 
homestead law, takes up his one hundred and sixty acres, publishes his claim, 
and setdes down to live unbrokenly upon it for the required six months each 
year. When his deeds read right and field notices have been properly witnessed 
and recorded, he is ready to begin life as a citizen and landholder. He hews 
and splits the tough post-oaks and black-jacks, builds strong "worm" fences 
around his possessions, and is ready when the season opens to begin his work. 
He plants his crop, digs his well, sets out the little fruit orchard, drains and 
irrigates, plows and grubs. The scent of the new earth is on his clothing and 
the sweetness and wholesomeness of it are in his heart. If he is progressive, 
public-spirited, and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the West, he will 
immediately show some indication of his enterprise. He will meet his fellow- 
citizens, boom the lands, work for a new railroad, subscribe for schools and 
churches, and work for better laws. He is bound to succeed. His children 
will be sent away to be educated, and they will have a better inheritance than 
was left to their parents. Probably this independent, self-reliant, and public- 
spirited setder will aspire to polidcal honors. Polidcs are contagious in the 
West, and nearly every young man looks forward to a seat in the Legislature, if 



PIONEER SETTLERS. 



319 



not in Congress. But whether he represents a county or a district, the thor- 
oughly and typically Western man will always carry with him the opinions that 
have been ground into him by his rough contact with a hard world. 
There is another 



class of settlers in the 
West who remain 
hopelessly poor in 
spite of sobriety, hard 
work, and good in- 
tentions. They are 
the people whom 
luck seems to turn 
against. Whatever 
he undertakes, this 
settler seems to be 
unfortunate. He 
sells his land to a 
speculator, and the 
unearned increment 
goes into the hands 
of a shrewder person. 
He sees men all 
around him grettinor 
suddenly rich, and in 
time he gets used to 
seeing others profit 
by his toil. His wife 
must always be an 
overworked creature, 
for it takes the united 



toil of both to get a 



ivmg. 




J 



It is a wonder 
hat these pioneer 
women of the West 
do not more fre- 
quently lose courage. 
But in times of grass- 
hoppers or severe 

drought, of destruction of crops by wind or hail, she never gives up. She has the 
temperament that can endure. The woman who has always known hardship 
and toil, who marched in behind wagons, her face burned and hardened by 



A TUMBLE FRiiM THE TRAIL. 



320 THE STORY O'F AMERICA. 

exposure to wind and sun in varying seasons, is not the person to become faint- 
hearted. Hard-featured but tender-hearted, brown-skinned but white-souled, 
she holds her own with her sturdy husband and plodding sons. She takes upon 
her shoulders the helpmeet's half of a pioneer life. She is up with the dawn, 
milks her dozen cows, carries her water for cooking and washing purposes from 
the nearest branch, a quarter of a mile away, cuts her own wood, and makes her 
own fires. Uncomplaining and unresentful, she sings at her work, and is always 
ready to cheer and comfort. Side by side with the men, she plows and hoes the 
new fields, or, mounted on her own broncho, participates in the round-up or 
" stands herd " while the boys take their noontide nap in the chapparal bush. She 
teaches her children to ride, swim, and to look out for themselves at a tender age. 

Childhood as it is known in cities and in older States, with its prattling 
ignorance and pretty dependencies, is almost extinguished in the far West. 
The boys assume responsibilities beyond their years, and the girls soon learn 
to share the mother's household cares. The substantial facts and practical 
experiences with which the life of their elders is guided has an early influence 
upon their own. They learn the time of day by the sun, and predict changes 
of weather by the hazes and rings about the moon. They learn the ages and 
distinctive qualities in the herds. The hills are their schools, pebbles and wild 
flowers their books, and the horses their playmates. They become sophisticated 
with a rare impersonal knowledge of nature and things created. 

The cattle business, as the practical ranchman calls his vocation, has under- 
gone a decided change during the past twenty years. The wholesale and 
loosely-managed business of the '6o's has given way to the statistical and close- 
margined system of the present. It has grown, with the tendency of modern 
practical and domestic economy, toward a basis of real valuations. It is the 
scope and territory of the business that have been so reduced, while the results 
remain practically the same. The last census bulletin, reporting on live stock 
on ranges, gives a summary of 517,128 head of horses, 5433 mules, 14,109 
asses or burros, 6,828,182 head of cattle, 6,676,902 sheep, and 17,276 swine. 
The sales of horses amounted to $1,418,205; cattle, 1^17,913,712; sheep, 
$2,669,663, and swine, $27,132. The total number of men in charge of the 
ranches was 15,390. As to territory for stock-raising, nature has made a gen- 
erous provision. The immense Panhandle of Texas, which, with its fertility of 
soil and abundance of rainfall, must not be confounded with the arid Pecos 
regions or the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plains, embraces hundreds of square 
miles of juicy grass-range. Even the Staked Plains, considered useless for 
years, are gradually being converted into good pasture regions by means of 
irrigation and artificial forestry. The prairies of Kansas and the rolling 
stretches of the Indian Territory are used for no other purpose than as the 
feeding-ground for thousands of herds. 



CATTLE RANGES AND COWBOYS. 321 

Until the passage of the Oklahoma Bill the Indian country was an 
Eldorado for Kansas and Texas cattlemen. The withdrawal of the country 
was a great backset to the cattle business in the Southwest. The Texas 
mesquite grass is superb winter forage, keeping its nutritive and sustaining 
qualities long after it appears dried up and juiceless, but it is not as fattenino- 
as the Territory grass. Every winter the Oklahoma district was overrun with 
herds driven from the surrounding country, and while in the Territory amon^T 
the helpless Indians the cattleman resorted to his primitive system of commis- 
sion. He knew he had no right to the Indian's land, and the Indian knew it 
too, but, so long as he was not inconvenienced for the time being, he made no 
resistance to the usurpation of his land. The stockmen pacified the Indians for 
the use of their pasturing grounds by supplying some of their more immediate 
wants, giving them fresh beef and cows and a generous amount of tobacco, 
whisky, and worthless trinkets for the squaws. 

The pleasant little game of reciprocity was broken up by the President's 
fiat forbidding foreign stockmen to drive their herds into the Territory. There 
was no penalty attached, and there was, naturally, considerable manoeuvrino- on 
the part of the stockmen to evade the law and its inconvenient requirements. 
The United States troops stationed at Forts Sill and Reno were commissioned 
to enforce the law and to order all foreign stockmen then in the Territory to 
vacate immediately. One stubborn old-timer from Texas, who was peacefully 
teaching his herd to eat forbidden grass, came under the official eye and gave 
no small amount of trouble. After numerous attempts at resistance, he finally 
rounded up his herd and marched to the border ; but, as there was no fiat to 
forbid his return, deliberately marched back. Several official orders were sent 
him ; each time he obeyed, and each time he returned. Finally two companies 
of cavalry were sent out to insist upon the enforcement of the law. The 
mounted cavalry, in their brave uniforms, riding their stall-fed and stiff-kneed 
horses, did not find the matter as simple as they perhaps had anticipated. They 
set out, solemnly marching in fours, before, behind, or in the midst, wherever 
they could keep their places in the disorganized herd of long-horns. The drive 
occurred in April, when most of the cows were calving, and the youno- calves, 
unable to keep up in the line of march, fell behind. The infuriated mothers 
continually broke ranks to rush back after their wailing offspring. The cap- 
tain's roaring command, " Charge the brute !" would be countermanded by the 
order, " Retreat ! Retreat ! " when a maddened animal bore down upon the 
solemn fours. This weary war between the staid soldiers and the resisting 
herd of cattle went on for two days and nights. A combination of forces more 
incongruous can scarcely be imagined. The calm, rimless stretch of prairie 
was the scene of battle between man and beast. The dignified soldiers, in their 
unwonted service, contrasted with the infuriated mob of cattle ; the flashing of 



322 



THE STORY OF AMERTCA. 



arms and the prancing of terrified army horses ; the confusion of orders ; the 
lowing of the cows, bellowing of steers, and cries of deserted calves ; the little 
knot of cowboys and their leader riding submissively apart, watching the pro- 
ceedings with amused 
? interest, wondering 
what the result would 
^be. 

The troops were 
icallcd upon a number 
lof times durine the 
sseason to preserve 
«the majesty of the 
-law before the 
country was finally 
deserted by the stock- 
■nnen. The Territories 
knd new States of 
J the Northwest still 
uipply unlimited 
range and pasturage. 
The plains extending 
from the Black Hills 
and the mountain 
granges of Wyoming, 
from Fort Collins to 
the Montana border, 
and between Pike's 
J Peak and Denver, as 
well as the greater 
part of the mild- 
wintered New Mexi- 
co Territory, are rich 
in grasses and weL 
watered lands yet 
open to the stock 

A BUCKING BRONCHO. rSlsCr. 

The Colorado 
plains are particularly adapted to sheep raising, which is one of the leading 
industries of that State. The range is cut up by mountains and canons into 
small ranches, where sheep can be raised to better advantage than cattle. 
The business is more hazardous than cattle raising, but it has competed 




IMPROVED METHODS. 323 

successfully with it. There has long been a feudal rivalry between the two 
classes of ranchmen. 

Until 1876 the Texas cattlemen had a monopoly of the business. They 
dealt entirely in common stock cattle, or stock-horns, that required no provision 
further than that afforded by a mild climate, sufficient grass, and water. The 
business was carried on with primitive simplicity. The herders, who were hired 
for twelve or fifteen dollars a month, furnished their own outfits, and a few pack- 
mules were sufficient to carry all necessary camp supplies. Even prices were 
established by the ranchmen to suit themselves, for competition was not strong 
snoueh to reeulate them. When the Texas ran^re became insufficient, and the 
stockmen drove their herds to the northwest, to Nebraska, Wyoming, and 
Colorado, a rivalry sprang up and a new impetus was given to the industry. 
In the year 1891 the Swan Land and Cattle Company pastured no less than 
Bo.ooo head of cattle in eastern Wyoming, and smaller companies owned from 
14,000 to 50,000 stock and horses. A depression in the stock business was 
aggravated by the mixing of native and foreign breeds, and the spreading of 
various contagious and infectious diseases. Beef that had sold for ^25 per head 
depreciated to $10 and ^12. Stock cattle remained more nearly stationary in 
price, but there was a rapid falling off in numbers, due to both the rage of 
epidemic, and the general neglect of the business. When things were at their 
worst for both stock and stockmen, syndicates from the North and from foreign 
countries gave the trade a new boom. Capital was plentiful for a while ; 
ranches and ranges were bought or leased in great numbers, and prices were 
pushed up by conventions and unions to something near their original fictitious 
bases. This state of affairs did not last lone and there was a gradual falline in 
prices to actual values. "Corn-fed" and refrigerated beef held its own, and 
people soon learned that 1000 head of cattle sheltered, fed, watered, and 
judicially disposed of paid better in the long run than 100,000 running wild on 
insufficient ranges, starving, famishing, and dying of " pink-eye " and epizooty. 
Ranches were cut up into farms and orchards ; the herds were reduced in num- 
bers and made to supply the same demand as existed in the time;, of such 
unwieldy conditions. 

The introduction of fine-blooded short-horned breeds into the Northwestern 
and Southwestern ranges has not proven profitable. The summers are too long, 
the winters too severe, and the country itself unsuited to the successful raising 
of cattle that require the best forage and shelter, as well as careful handling. 
The cattle and sheep that thrive in the West must be able to obtain their own 
subsistence all the year round, and to live without shelter, except that provided 
by nature in the ravines and wind-breaks. During the summer and winter 
they roam at will over the plains, frequently wandering long distances from the 
home range. At the fall and spring round-ups, when the stragglers are hunted 



324 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

up, an enumeration made, calves branded and beeves selected for market, the 
cattle are brought together from points a hundred miles or more apart. The 
different ranchmen pick out their own cattle, recognizable by the brand, which 
is recorded like the deed of property. It is interesting to study the effect of 
climatic and physical conditions of the country upon the cattle running wild. 
Even the proportion of the young is regulated by the characteristics of the 
country. Each member of a herd seems to know its place, and always prefers 
its own to any other herd. These dumb creatures have more intelligence than 
is usually credited to them. 

The so-called wild cattle of Texas bear a close resemblance in many ways 
to the deer. The large development of horn, the pointed nose, the lustrous eye, 
and above all, the thinness of flank and length of leg, together with the fleet- 
ness, are the main characteristics. The spring " round up," which is held in May 
and early June, is the busiest time of the year. A captain is chosen from each 
district, and the stockmen and cattle boys belonging to fifteen or twenty ranges 
in each work under him. The work is apportioned, and the helpers are under 
semi-military organization. Each cowboy has eight or ten horses, and the 
whole district, sometimes covering hundreds of square miles, is laid out in daily 
rides. A month or more time is generally required to cover the country. It 
is said that the cowboys track cattle as the Indian tracks his game. The water- 
courses must be followed, and the country carefully searched for stragglers, 
some of which sometimes turn up after several years' absence. The boys are 
up at four or five o clock in the morning, and frequently are in the saddle six- 
teen or seventeen hours a day. While the work is hard, the boys look forward 
to it for months. It is preferable to the monotonous life at the ranch, with no 
diversion but euchre or poker, or an occasional novel. The cowboy must have 
a constitution of iron to endure the hardships of prairie life. He is obliged to 
work, when after cattle, in all weathers. He must stand severe heat and 
drenching rains, with no prospect of relief from duty until after the work of the 
" round up " is finished. He must know the business of a ranchman thoroughly, 
and understand every detail of the work, whether that of day-watcher, herder, 
or night-watchman, or that of captain of a district. He must be a good horse- 
man, know how to break a wild pony, and to ride it when broken, must be keen- 
witted, and never lose presence of mind, or he may lose his life in a stampede. 
Furthermore he must be a skillful lariat thrower. He cannot hope to handle 
his hempen riile with any degree of skill until he has had at least two years of 
practice, and it will be much longer than that before he can throw it with 
anything like a sure aim. 

The lariat is generally made of native grass, braided and twisted. It is 
forty-five feet long, and from three-eighths to one and a half inches in thickness. 
The end is wound with waxed shoemakers' thread and the whole boiled in oil to 



THE MODERN COWBOY. 



325 



give it strength and pliability. The loop is often made of leather which has 
been soaked, stretched and scraped, and "seasoned." The success in handling 
the lariat depends entirely upon the strength and movement of the wrist. 

The cowboy has been called the King of the Cattle Country. It may be 
only to a limited extent that he is monarch of all he surveys, but in his happy 
careless way he dominates even the master of the ranch. In former times he 
was only the son and grandson of a cowboy, and was relegated to a distinct 
class in the social scale. He inherited even the bow-legs of his pony straddling 
ancestors, and all the physical characteristics which the occupation stamped 




A DISPUTE OVER A bRAND. 



dpon them. It was almost literally true of him that "he was born in the sad- 
dle." To-day the cowboy is sometimes the son of a well-to-do family in an 
eastern or middle State, and is led by a spirit of adventure to experience some- 
thing of life in the West. The dash of the winds, the roar and swell and free- 
dom of the prairies, delight him. Colleges seem small and limited, books and 
papers tame and unvarying. The prairies exhilarate and depress him by turns. 
He becomes contemplative and introspective, taciturn and uncommunicative, 
by reason of his surroundings. He is to be seen standing about the station 
at train time, in some western town, or more likely sitting sideways on his high- 



326 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

pommeled Mexican saddle, watching the people that crowd off or on the cars 

with much the same expression that shows in his pony's eyes — an expression 
that can be best described by lack of alertness. 

In dress he has escaped from every restraint of conventionality. He hates 
a coat, wears a coarse shirt of blue, gray, or red twilled flannel, as loose as a 
blouse, confined at the waist by a leather belt. His sombrero may be decora- 
ted with a trold or silver band, and tassels dangling at the side. His trousers 
fit his muscular legs with unfashionable snugness, and his hair is several seasons 
too long. His swearing is only a provincial sin, and his dram drinking a com- 
panionable custom. He is quick to join a lynching party, a band of serenaders 
e7t route to a ranch where an Eastern girl is visiting, a posse after a horse-thief, 
or an old folks' band to a camp-meeting, entering upon each with impartial 
enthusiasm. He sits his horse like an Arab, and handles his lariat as a profes- 
sional trickster his cards. That unwieldy-looking coil of grass rope tied to his 
saddle-skirts is as dangerous a weapon as one could wish for. It has taken 
long practice to wield it dexterously, and the cowboy takes a natural pride in 
his accomplishment. If a steer or buffalo straying from its herd crosses his 
path, out springs his lasso in rhythmical sweeps over the rider's head, then off to 
one side, falling in a sure slip-knot over the animal's head, or around the fore 
legs, and by a twirl of the rope and a sudden movement of the wrist the victim 
is thrown upon the soft turf. In all feats of esquestrianism the cowboy excels 
the Indian ; apparently as reckless, but more judicious and unerring in his 
movements. Even the cow-pony, the faithful friend of the cowboy, has a divin- 
ation that is almost human. He enjoys the chase as a dog the hunt, the cow- 
boy's " Halloo-oo-oo ! " being to him what the hunter's horn is to the hound. 
He understands every movement of his rider. When the master coils the 
lasso about his head, the pony slows up ; when the rope coils into nooses 
ahead of him, he advances ; as the noose slips over the animal's head or 
leg, he halts, jerking back his head, stiffening his neck, and planting his fore- 
feet into the ground, aiding the lariat thrower in landing the victim. It is 
peculiar that the pony never becomes tame. He submits to the girth and bit 
unwillingly, and each time he is turned loose upon the range imagines his 
apprenticeship to control is over. When he is captured again he shies and 
balks, flashes his eyes, chews the bit, and resents the whip. It is only an 
illustration of nature's refutation of man's superiority. 

The pony, too, comes from the range ; his progenitors were the wild horses 
of the West ; his education is practical and experimental. His endurance 
is something marvelous. He can outrun two ordinary horses, and endure 
hunger and thirst with an indifference almost equal to that of the horned frog. 
He comes near his abstemious cousin, the burro, as regards provender. His 
intelligence is phenomenal, and the understanding between him and his master 



RANCHING LEGALLY CONTROLLED. 



327 



is fraternal. When the rider wishes to start on a gallop, he raises his elbows, 
giving them a slight shake, and he is borne away. A touch of the hand on the 
neck will brine the horse to a sudden standstill, without the use of the rein. It 
is no wonder that the two have become inseparably associated, and the horse is 
named "Friend" or " Little Brother." In his lonely ride the cowboy sings his 
strange ballads with all the devotion and fervor of an Oriental lover. 

There are some branches of industry that are retarded, if not destroyed, 
by civilization. One of these is ranching, as it was followed in the wide scope 
pasturage and free grass of a quarter of a century ago. Then no man thought 
of claiming more land than he needed or cared to fence for his own homestead 
purposes. As free as the air he breathed, or the blue sky over him, was the 
land that lay before him. In a primitive and fraternal fashion the early stock- . 
men availed themselves of the privileges of 
commission. In a land where range and 
booty alike were free, the first man out in 
the spring caught the first calf, and the tiny 
bit of communistic property belonged to 
the man who branded it. There was a 
premium on the early bird, and the pros- 
perous stockman who believed that all was 
fair in love and war and cattle raisino- miofht 
at times hear the epithet : " That man ? 
Why, he'd steal yearlings ! " applied to 
himself He reasoned that a crime con- 
fessed is not a crime, and a bad deed done 
in the light of day is not bad. Even the 
round-ups were a sort of barbarous Derby- 
day or hurdle-race, where stakes were open 
and entry was free, and where no hard 

feeling existed. The big-hearted and free-handed pioneer might forgive this 
wholesale thievery, but the law did not, which came with the homesteader 
and syndicates and barbed wire fences. Signs appeared on the pasture gates 
warning trespassers against appropriation of private land, wagon roads were 
forced to turn out of their way, railroads came into the Territories, and the free 
citizen was restrained by monopolies. With improved methods of cross feeding 
and ensilage, with winter sheds and artificial lakes, drouth and famine were 
circumvented, and stock raising settled down into a safer and smaller business. 

In old times a ranchman was content with his dozen "hands," each one 
furnishing his own two ponies, and riding away the season at fifteen dollars a 
month. The ranchman was content, also, to live in his log cabin, or even "dug- 
out," while he could count his herds by the thousands. His manner of business 




AN INDIAN WARRIOR. 



^2,s THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

was primitive and economical. His pack-mules carried all necessary camping 
and cookincr utensils. Nowadays he must have fifty, instead of a dozen " hands.' 
He must mount each one, allowing several good horses to each, besides fur- 
nishing a bio- round-up wagon with its stove and gasoline and coal-oil, and 
supplies of Janned fruits, meats, and delicacies of all kinds. He builds fine 
houses wind-mills, patent gates, and commodious barns, and lives not only in 
comfort but in luxury. The old fashioned "round-up " on the southern ranch 
was a merry time for all, from the children on the ranches to the horses, who 
enjoyed the race immensely. Ponies were driven from the range and " broke " 
to the dominion of girth and bridle ; gray blankets were sunned, rolled up with 
a suit of flannel underwear, and strapped on to the back of the patient pack- 
horse • saddle-bags and grip-sacks were brought forth and filled, one side with 
cold biscuits, corn dodgers, sugar, and coffee, and the other side with streaked 
bacon salt, pepper, and raw onions. Over the gray bundles on the pack-horse s 
back dangled frying-pans, tin cups, an iron pot, and a home-made cedar bucket. 
The cowboys, booted, spurred, and sombreroed, wearing buckskin gaundets 
and leather belt holding pistol, bowie knife, shot and powder horns, and a 
canteen of whisky, are off to the round-up. The old ranch is lett almost 
deserted for a few weeks until the herds are brought back. The roaring and low- 
incr of the approaching catde can be heard for miles. The tramping of thousands 
of^Vestless hoofs and the bleating of thousands of thirsty tongues announce the 
approach of the cattle, and all work or play is stopped until after the herds come 
in The cowboys chant a weird halloo-oo-oo ! as they canter on their ponies 
amid the bellowing, hooting animals. Such a little thing may cause a stampede ; 
the sudden whirl of an obstreperous pony, the dropping of a red handkerchief, 
the low flio-ht of a hawk or turkey-buzzard, and off go the cattle and pandemo- 
nium reians In vain the boys surround the herd, chanting their persuasive 
"Halloo-oo-oo!" which is unheeded by the frightened animals. They break 
ranks and scatter, pawing up the hot sand or loose grass, and flinging it, hoof- 
load after hoof-load, over their backs. Bellowing, lowing, and bleating, they 
rush back to their wild haunts on the range. Thus the entire work of a round- 
up may be lost in a few hours. But if the herd is once within the stockpens, all 
is safe. The cattle are separated, yearlings numbered, calves branded, and the 
old catde turned loose upon the range. _ 

One of the most remarkable yet common scenes about a ranch is a cattle 
funeral Let a beef be killed, no matter how far away from the general rang^ 
nor how deeply the spilled blood be covered up, its kindred seem instinctively 
to know of the slaughter, and resent it with all the force of their dumb natures 
They will come running for miles, tongue out, eyes red, back bnsding, to hnd 
and keep watch over the murdered mate. They keep up the most mournful 
lowin<r and as the crowds become thicker, the weird, resounding echoes ot the 



330 THE WOMEN OF THE RANCH. 

plain are terrifying to one unused to such scenes. Those who come first seem 
to agree upon a kind of solemn courtesy to the new comers. They move back 
and the new relay rushes in in an orderly circle. They lower their horns and 
paw up the earth, bawling dismally, till a new committee arrives, and they 
in turn move back to allow the new comers to continue the tragic ceremonies. 
And woe to any human being who arrives upon the scene ! With instinctive 
resentment, the brutes recognize their bloody-handed master, and plunge at 
him to rend him to pieces in their frenzy. Sometimes this awful death watch 
is kept up for twenty-four hours. It makes one nervous and apprehensive. 
It is as if Nature rose in her might, declaring, " Thou shalt not kill ! " 
Ranchmen, of course, get accustomed to this weird spectacle, but when they 
cannot endure the maddened mob of upbraiding dumb creatures about their 
door, the yearlings for beef are driven several miles away to be killed, and 
hauled back to the ranch proper. 

No sketch of the West is complete without some allu.sion to the far-famed 
woman of the ranch. 

The catde queen, who has held a conspicuous place in the narrator's tale of 
the West for a quarter of a century, belongs to the old days of typical ranch life, 
the merry round-ups, barbecues, log-raisings, and sheep shearings. At her best 
she was a much gilded and idealized creature. In fiction, she was daring and 
fearless, wore buckskin leggings, a black-plumed sombrero, high-heeled boots, 
and gold-spiked spurs. She swore lightly, with a pretty flirt of her skirt, car- 
ried her brace of Colt's revolvers, counted her thousand catde on her thousand 
hills, rode into town and shipped them, depositing her good paper in the 
Stockmen's Bank. In life, the ranch woman was a hard-faced, hard-worked 
female catdeman, who trusted to others and was swindled out of her rights, 
who drove into town four dmes a year in her piano-box buggy and paid her 
lawyer half she made. She did not often, however, manage the business for 
herself If she was the widow of a catde king, she lived in her large town 
house, made occasional visits to the ranch, and reaped the profits left by her 
swindling superintendents. 



The Interesting Story of Our Difficulties with 

Foreign Powers. 



On a bright spring morning, the 
date, April 30, 1 7S9, amid the booming 
of cannon, the plaudits of the multi- 
tude, and the general rejoicing of the 
people of the whole country, Washing- 
ton had been inaugurated President of 
the United States. That day saw one 
of the most significant events accom- 
plished in the history of the world ; for 
there in the city of New York, where 
the inauguration took place, a nation 
was born in a day. The old Confeder- 
acy was gone : the new nation stood 
forth " like a giant ready to run a race." 
And what a race it has run since that 
time history has told. 

The United States was destined 

JAMES MONROE, AUTHOR OF "THE MONKOEDOCTK.NE." ^O prOVC HO eXCCptioU tO the COUrSe 

marked out by all other nations and 
enjoy perpetual peace. The fact is, the seeds of conflict were already sown and 
were destined to bear fruit, both in civil and foreign war. 

THE DIFFICULTY WITH THE BARBARY STATES. 

If the reader will look at any map of Africa he will see on the northern 
coast, defining the southern limits of the Mediterranean, four States, MoroccOf 
Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, running east and west a distance of iSoo miles. 
These powers had for centuries maintained a state of semi-independency by 
paying tribute to Turkey. But this did not suit Algeria, the strongest and 
most warlike of the North African States; and in the year 1710 the natives 
overthrew the rule of the Turkish Pasha, expelled him from the country, and 
united his office to that of the Dey. The Dey thus governed the country by 
means of a Divan or Council of State chosen from the principal civic function- 
aries. The Algerians, with the other " Barbary States," as the piratical States 
were called, defied the Powers of Europe. France alone successfully resisted 

331 




332 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

these depredations, but only partially, for after she had repeatedly chastised the 
Algerians, the strongest of the northern piratical States, and had induced the 
Dey to sign a treaty of peace, they would bide their time, and after a time return 
to their bloody work. It was Algiers which was destined to force the United 
States to resort to arms in the defense of its persecuted countrymen ; the result 
is a matter of history. 

The truth is, this conflict was no less irrepressible than that greater conflict 
which a century later deluged the land in blood. For, before the Constitution 
had been adopted, two American vessels flying the flag of thirteen stripes and 
only thirteen stars, instead of the forty-four which now form our national con- 
stellation, while sailing the Mediterranean had fallen a prey to the swift, heavily 
armed Algerian cruisers. The vessels were confiscated and the crews, to the 
number of twenty-one persons, had been held for ransom, for which an enormous 
sum was demanded. 

This sum our Government had been unwilling to pay, as to do so would be to 
establish a precedent not only with Algeria, but with Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco 
as well, for each of these African piratical States was in league with the others, 
and all had to be separately conciliated. 

But, after all, what else could the Government do? The country had no 
navy. It could not undertake in improvised ships to go forth and fight the swift, 
heavily armed cruisers of the African pirates — States so strong that the 
commercial nations were glad to win exemption from their depredations by 
annual payments. Why not, then, ransom these American captives by the 
payment of money and construct a navy sufficiently strong to resist their en- 
croachments in the future ? This feeling on the part of the Government was 
shared by the people of the country, and so it was. Congress finally authorized 
the building of six frigates, and by another act empowered President Washing- 
ton to borrow a million of dollars for purchasing peace. Eventually the money 
was paid to all the four Powers, and it was hoped all difficulty was at an end. 
The work of constructing the new war-ships was pushed with expedition, and 
as will be seen, it was well that it was so. 

We are now brought to the year iSoo. Tripoli, angry at not receiving as 
much money as was paid to Algiers, declared war against the United States ; 
but now circumstances had changed for the better. For our new navy, a small 
but most efficient one, was completed, and a squadron consisting of the frigates 
"Essex," Captain Bainbridge, the "Philadelphia," the "President," and the 
schooner " Experiment," was in Mediterranean waters. Two Tripolitan cruisers 
lying at Gibraltar o*n the watch for American vessels, were blockaded by the 
" Philadelphia." Cruising off Tripoli the " Experiment " fell in with a Tripolitan 
cruiser of fourteen guns, and after thret hours' hard fighting captured her. The 
Tripolitans lost twenty killed and thirty wounded ; this brilliant result had a 
marked effect in quieting the turbulent pirates. 



A SPLENDID VJCJORY. 



•^ -> -» 

3oJ 



But peace was not yet assured. In 1815, while this country was at 
war with Ens^land, the Dey of Algiers unceremoniously dismissed the 
American Consul and declared war aeainst the United States ; and all 
because he had not received the articles demanded under the tribute treaty. 
This time the Government was well prepared for the issue. The population 
of the country had increased to over eight millions. The military spirit 
of the nation had been aroused by the war with Great Britain, ending in the 
splendid victory at New Orleans under General Jackson. Besides this, the 
navy had been increased and made far more effective. The Administration, 




A RAILROAD BATTERY. 



with Madison at its head, decided to submit to no further extortions from the 
Mediterranean pirates, and the President sent in a forcible message to Congress 
on the subject, taking high American ground. The result was a prompt 
acceptance of the Algerian declaration of war. Events succeeded each other in 
rapid succession. Ships new and old were at once fitted out. On May 15, 181 5, 
Decatur sailed from New York to the Mediterranean. His squadron comprised 
the frigates "Guerriere," "Macedonian," and "Constellation," the new sloop of 
war " Ontario," and four brigs and two schooners in addition. 

On June 17, the second day after entering the Mediterranean. Decatur 



334 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

captured the largest frigate in the Algerian navy, having forty-four guns. The 
next day an Algerian brig was taken, and in less than two weeks after his first 
capture Decatur, with his entire squadron, appeared off Algiers. The end had 
come ! The Dey's courage, like that of Bob Acres, oozed out at his fingers' 
ends. The terrified Dey sued for peace, which Decatur compelled him to sign 
on the quarter-deck of the " Guerriere." In this treaty it was agreed by the 
Dey to surrender all prisoners, pay a heavy indemnity, and renounce all tribute 
from America in the future. Decatur also secured indemnity from Tunis and 
Tripoli for American vessels captured under the guns of their forts by British 
cruisers during the late war. 

This ended at once and forever the payment of tribute to the piratical 
States of North Africa. All Europe, as well as our own country, rang with the 
splendid achievements of our navy ; and surely the stars and stripes had never 
before floated more proudly froir: the mast-head of an American vessel, and they 
are flying as proudly to-day. 

KING BOMB.\ BROUGHT TO TERMS. 

It was seventeen years later, in 1832, under the administration of General 
Jackson, that one of the most interesting cases of difficulty with a foreign power 
arose. As with Algeria and Tripoli, so now, our navy was resorted to for the 
purpose of exacting reparation. This time the trouble was with Italv, or rather 
that part of Italy known at that time as the Kingdom of Naples, which had been 
wrested from Spain by Napoleon, who placed successively his brother Joseph 
and Murat, Prince, Marshal of France, and brother-in-law of Napoleon, on the 
throne of Naples and the two Sicilies. During the years 1S09-1 2 the Neapolitan 
Government under Joseph and Murat successively had confiscated numerous 
American ships with their cargoes. The total amount of the American claims 
against Naples, as filed in the State Department, when Jackson's Administration 
assumed control, was $1,734,994. They were held by various insurance com- 
panies and by citizens, principally of. Baltimore. Demands for the payment of 
these claims had from time to time been made by our Government, but Naples 
had always refused to settle them. 

Jackson and his Cabinet took a decided stand, and determined that the 
Neapolitan Government, then in the hands of Ferdinand II — subsequently nick- 
named Bomba because of his cruelties — should make due reparation for the 
losses sustained by American citizens. The Hon. John Nelson, of Frederick, 
Maryland, was appointed Minister to Naples and ordered to insist upon a 
settlement. Commodore Daniel Patterson,* who aided in the defense of New 

=•= Daniel T. Patterson was born on Long Island, New York, March 6, 17S6; was appointed 
midshipman in the navy, 1800; was attached to the frigate "Philadelphia" when she ran upon a 
reef near Tripoli; was captured and a prisoner until 1805; was made lieutenant in 1807 and 



KING BO MB A BROUGHT TO TERMS;. 






Orleans in 1S15, was put in command of the Mediterranean squadron and 
ordered to cooperate with Minister Nelson in enforcing his demands. But 
Naples persisted in her refusal to render satisfaction, and a warlike demonstra- 
tion was decided upon, the whole matter being placed, under instructions, in the 
hands of Commodore Patterson. 

The entire force at his command consisted of three fifty-gun frigates and 
three twenty-gun corvettes. So as not to precipitate matters too hastily, the 
plan was for three vessels to appear in the Neapolitan waters, one at a time, and 




UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH WAGON. 



instructions were given accordingly. The " Brandywine," with Minister Nelson 
on board, went first. Mr. Nelson repeated the demands for a settlement, and 
they were refused : there was nothing in the appearance of a Yankee envoy and 
a single ship to trouble King Bomba and his little kingdom. The " Brandy- 



master-commandant in 1813. In 1814 he won great credit as commander of naval forces at New 
Orleans, and received the thanks of Congress. He commanded the flotilla which destroyed the fort 
and defenses of Lafitte, the pirate. He was made captain in 1815 ; Navy Commissioner, 1828 to 
1832, and commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, 1832-1835. He died on August 15, 1839, 
being then in command of the Washington Navy Yaid. 



336 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



wine" cast anchor in tlie harbor and the humbled Envoy waited patiently for a 
few days. Then another American flag appeared on the horizon, and the frigate 
"United States" floated into the harbor and came to anchor. Mr. Nelson 
repeated his demands, and they were again refused. Four days slipped away, 
and the stars and stripes again appeared off the harbor. King Bomba, looking 
out from his palace windows, saw the fifty-gun frigate "Concord" sail into the 
harbor and drop her anchor. Then unmistakable signs of uneasiness began to 
show themselves. Forts were repaired, troops drilled, and more cannon mounted 
on the coast. The demands were reiterated, but the Neapolitan Government 
still refused. Two days later another war-ship made her way into the harbor. 
It was the "John Adams." When the fifth ship sailed gallantly in, the Bourbon 
Government seemed almost on the point of yielding ; but three days later Mr. 
Nelson sent word home that he was still unable to collect the bill. But the end 
was not yet. Three days later, and the sixth sail showed itself on the blue 
waters of the peerless bay. It was the handwriting on the wall for King Bomba, 
and his Government announced that they would accede to the American 
demands. The negotiations were promptly resumed and speedily closed, the 
payment of the principal in installments with interest being guaranteed. 
Pending negotiations, from August 28 to September 15 the entire squadron 
remained in the Bay of Naples, and then the ships sailed away and separated. 
So, happily and bloodlessly, ended a difficulty which at one time threatened most 
serious results. 

AUSTRIA AND THE KOSZTA CASE. 

Another demonstration, less imposing in numbers but quite as spirited, and, 
indeed, more intensely dramatic, occurred at Smyrna in 1853, when Captain Dun- 
can N. Ingraham, with a single sloop-of-war, trained his broadsides on a fleet of 
Austrian war-ships in the harbor. The episode was a most thrilling one, and 
"The Story of America " would Indeed be incomplete were so dramatic an affair 
left unrecorded on its pages. And this is the record : — 

When the revolution of Hungary against Austria w^as put down, Kossuth, 
Koszta, and other leading revolutionists fled to .Smyrna, and the Turkish Gov- 
ernment, after long negotiations, refused to give them up. Koszta soon alter 
came to the United States, and in July, 1852, declared under oath his intention 
of becoming an American citizen. He resided in New York city a year 
and eleven months. 

The ne.xt year Koszta went to Smyrna on business, where he remained for 
a time undisturbed. He had so inflamed the Austrian Government against him, 
however, that a plot was formed to capture him. On June 21, 1853, while he 
was seated on the Marina, a public resort in Smyrna, a band of Greek mercen- 
aries, hired by the Austrian Consul, seized him and carried him off to an 
Austrian ship-of-war. the Huzzan then lying in the harbor. On board the vessel 



CAPTAIN INGRAHAM. 






command 
in irons 
criminal. 
American 



Archduke John, brother of the 
Emperor, was said, to be in 
Koszta was put 
and treated as a 
The next day an 
sloop-of-war, the 
'St. Louis," commanded by 
Capt. Duncan N. bigraham, * 
sailed into the harbor. Learn- 
ing what had happened, Capt. 
Ingraham immediately sent 
on board the " Huzzar " and 
courteously asked permission 
to see Koszta. His request 
was granted, and Captain 
Ingraham assured himself 
that Koszta was entitled to 
the protection of the Ameri- 
can flag. He demanded 
Koszta's release of the Aus- 
trian commander. When it 
was refused he communi- 
cated with the nearest United 
States official. Consul Brown, 
at Constantinople. While he 
was waitincr for an answer 
six Austrian war-ships sailed 

* Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham 
was Ijorn December 6, 1802, at 
Charleston, South Carolina. He 
entered the United States Navy in 
181 2 as midshipman, and became a 
captain September 14, 1855. In 
March, 1856, he was appointed Chief 
of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hy- 
drography of the Navy Department, 
a position which he held until South 
Carolina passed her ordinance of 
secession in 1S60. He then resigned 
his commission in the navy and took 
service under the Confederate States, 
in which he rose to the rank of 
Commodore. He died in 1891. 




338 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



into the harbor and came to anchor in positions near the " Huzzar." On June 
2Qth before Captain Ingraham had received any answer from the American 
Consul he noticed unusual signs of activity on board the " Huzzar," and before 
long she began to get under way. The American Captam made up his mind 
immediately. He put the " St. Louis " straight in the " Huzzar's " course and 
cleared his guns for action. The "Huzzar" hove to, and Captain Ingraham 
went on board and demanded the meaning of the " Huzzar's " action. 

"We propose to sail for home," replied the Austrian. "The Consul has 
ordered us to take our prisoner to Austria." 

" You will pardon me," said Captain Ingraham, " but if you attempt to leave 
this port with that American on board I shall be compelled to resort to e.xtreme 

measures." . , 

The Au'.trian crknced around at the fleet of Austrian war-ships and the 
single American sloop-of-war. Then he smiled pleasantly, and intimated that 
the " Huzzar " would do as she pleased. 

Captain Inaraham bowed and returned to the " St. Louis." He had no 
sooner reached her deck than he called out : " Clear the guns for action ! " 

The Archduke of Austria saw the batteries of the "St. Louis" turned on 
him and he realized that he was in the wrong. The " Huzzar" was put about 
and sailed back to her old anchorage. Word was sent to Captain Ingraham 
that the Austrian would await the arrival of the note from Mr. Brown. ^ 

The Consul's note, which came on July ist. commended Captain Ingraham s 
course and advised him to take whatever action he thought the situation 

demanded. 

At eio-ht o'clock on the morning of July 2d. Captain Ingraham sent a note 
to the commander of the "Huzzar," formally demanding the release of Mr. 
Koszta Unless the prisoner was delivered on board the " St. Louis before 
four o'clock the next afternoon, Captain Ingraham would take him from the 
Austrians by force. The Archduke sent back a formal refusal. At eight o clock 
the next morning Captain Ingraham once more ordered the decks cleared for 
action and trained his batteries on the "Huzzar." The seven Austrian war 
vessels cleared their decks and put their men at the guns. 

At ten o'clock an Austrian officer came to Captain Ingraham and began to 
temporize. Captain Ingraham refused to listen to him. 

"To avoid the worst," he said, " I will agree to let the man be delivered to 
the French Consul at Smyrna until you have opportunity to communicate with 
your Government. But he must be delivered there, or I will take him. I have 

stated the time." . . , 

At twelve o'clock a boat left the " Huzzar" with Koszta in it, and an hou, 
later the French Consul sent word that Koszta was in his keeping, llien 
several of the Austrian war-vessels sailed out of the harbor. Long negotiations 



AUSTRIA YIELDS. 



339 



between the two Governments followed, and in the end Austria admitted that 
the United States was in the right, and apologized. 

Scarcely had the plaudits which greeted Captain Ingraham's intrepid course 
died away, when, the next year, another occasion arose where our Government 
was obliged to resort to the force of arms. This time Nicaragua was the country 
involved. Early in June, 1854, after repeated but unsuccessful attempts at a 
settlement had been made by the United States, our Government — Franklin 
Pierce was then President — determined to secure a settlement by appeal to 
arms. Various outrages, it was the contention of our Government, had been 
committed on the persons and property of American citizens dwelling in 
Nicaragua. The repeated demands for redress were not complied with. 




Commander H oil ins, 
proceed to the town of 
coast of Nicaragua, and 



Peaceful negotiations having failed, in June, 1854, 
with the sloop-of-war "Cyane," was ordered to 
San Juan, or Greytown, which lies on the Mosquito 
to insist on favorable 
action from the Nica- 
raguan Government. 
Captain Hollins came 
to anchor off the coast 
and placed his de- 
mands before the 
autliorities. He 
waited patiently for a 
response, but no satis- 
factory one was 
offered him. After 
waiting in vain for a 
number of days he 
made a final appeal 
and then proceeded 

to carry out instructions. On the morning of July 13th he directed his batteries 
on the town of San Juan and opened fire. Until four o'clock in the afternoon 
the cannon poured out broadsides as fast as they could be loaded. By that time 
the greater part of the town had been destroyed. Then a party of marines 
was put on shore, and they completed the destruction of the place by burning 
the houses. 

A lieutenant of the British navy commanding a small vessel of war was in the 
harbor at the time. England claimed a species of protectorate over the setde- 
ment, and the British officer raised violent protest against the action taken by 
America's representative. Captain Hollins, however, paid no attendon to the 
interference and carried out his instructions. The United States Government 



LATEST MODEL OF CATLING FIELD GUN. 



340 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

later sustained Captain HoUins in everything that he did, and England thereupon 
thought best to let the matter drop. In this they were unquestionably wise. 

At this time the United States seems to have entered upon a period of 
international conflict. For no sooner had the difficulties with Austria and 
Nicaragua been adjusted, than another war-cloud appeared on the horizon. 
Here again but a year from the last conflict had elapsed, for in 1855 an offense 
was committed against the United States by Paraguay. We now have to gc 
back three years. In 1852 Captain Thomas J. Page,'^' commanding a small 
light-draught steamer, the "Water Witch," by direction of his Government 
started for South America to explore the river La Plata and its large tributaries, 
with a view to opening up commercial intercourse between the United States 
and the interior States of .South America. We have said the expedition was 
ordered by our Government ; it also remains to be noted that the expedition 
was undertaken with the full consent and approbation of the countries having 
jurisdiction over those waters. Slowly, but surely, the little steamer pushed her 
way up the river, making soundings and charting the river as she proceeded. 
All went well until February i, 1855, when the first sign of trouble appeared. 

It was a lovely day in early summer — the summer begins in February in 
that latitude — and nothing appeared to indicate the slightest disturbance. The 
little "Water Witch" was quietly steaming up the River Parana, which forms 
the northern boundary of the State of Corrientes, separating it from Paraguay, 
when suddenly, without a moment's warning, a battery from Fort Itaparu, on 
the Paraguayan shore, opened fire upon the little steamer, immediately killing 
one of her crew who at that time was at the wheel. The "Water Witch " was 
not fitted for hostilities ; least of all could it assume the risk of attempting to 
run the batteries of the fort. Accordingly, Captain Page put the steamer 
about, and was soon out of range. It should here be explained that at that 
time President Carlos A. Lopez was the autocratic ruler of Paraguay, and that 
he had previously received Captain Page with every assurance of friendship. 
A few months previous, however, Lopez had been antagonized by the United 
States Consul at Ascencion, who, in addition to his official position, acted as 
agent for an American mercantile company, of which Lopez disapproved and 
went so far as to break up the business of the company. He also issued a 
decree forbidding foreign vessels of war from navigating the Parana or any of 
the waters bounding Paraguay, which he clearly had no right to do, as half the 
stream belonged to the State bordering on the other side. 

* Thomas Jefferson Page was born in Virginia in 1815. He entered the navy as midshipman 
in October, 1827, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in June, 1833. In September, 1855, he 
became a commander. In 1861, his State having passed the ordinance of secession, he resigned 
from the United States Navy, joining that of the Confederate States, where he attained the raxJc- of 
Commodore. 



THE PARAGUAYAN TROUBLt. 



341 



Captain Page, finding it impracticable to prosecute his exploration any 
further, at once returned to the United States, giving the Washington authori 
ties a detailed account of the occurrence. It was claimed by our Government that 
the "Water Witch" was not subject to the jurisdiction of Paraguay, as the 
channel was the equal property of the Argentine Republic. It was further 
claimed that even if she were within the jurisdiction of Paraguay she was not 
properly a vessel of war, but a Government boat employed for scientific pur 
poses. And even were the vessel supposed to be a war vessel, it was contended 
that it was a gross violation of international right and courtesy to fire shot at 
the vessel of a friendly power without first resorting to more peaceful means. 
At that time William L. Marcy, one of the foremost statesmen of his day, was 
Secretary of State. Mr. Marcy at once wrote a strong letter to the Paraguayan 
Government, stating the facts of the case, declaring that the action of Paraguay in 




EIGHT-INCH GUN AND CARRIAGE OF THE "BALTIMORE." 
{Built at the Washington Navy-Yard, 0/ American Steel.) 

firing upon the " Water Witch " would not be submitted to, and demanding ample 
apology and compensation. All efforts in this direction, however, proved fruit- 
less. Lopez refused to give any reparation ; and not only so, but declared no 
American vessel would be allowed to ascend the Parana for the purpose 
indicated. 

The event, as it became known, aroused not a little excitement ; and while 
there were some who "deprecated a resort to extreme measures " — a euphemistic 
phrase frequently resorted to by those who would neither resent an insult nor 
take umbrage at an intended offense — the general sentiment of the country was 
decidedly manifested in favor of an assertion of our rights in the premises, 
Accordingly, President Pierce sent a message to Congress stating that a peace- 
ful adjustment of the difficulty was impossible, and asking that he be authorized 
to send such a naval force to Paraguay as would compel her arbitrary ruler to 
give the full satisfaction demanded. 

To this request Congress promptly and almost unanimously gave assent, 
and one of the strongest naval expeditions ever fitted out by the United States up 



34^ 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



to that time was ordered to assemble at the mouth of La Plata River. The 
fleet was a most imposing one and comprised nineteen vessels, seven of which 
were steamers specially chartered for the purpose, as our largest war vessels 
were of too deep draught to ascend La Plata and Parana. The entire squad- 
ron carried 200 guns and 2500 men, and was commanded by Flag Officer, 
afterward Rear Admiral, Shubrick,* one of the oldest officers of our navy, and 
one of the most gallant men that ever trod a quarter deck. Flag Officer Shu 
brick was accompanied by United States Commissioner Bowlin, to whom was 
intrusted negotiations for the settlement of the difficulty. Three years and 
eleven months had now passed since the "Water Witch" was fired upon, and 
President Buchanan had succeeded Franklin Pierce. The winter of 1859 was 
just closing in at the North ; the streams were closed by ice, and the lakes were 
ice-bound, but the palm trees at the South were displaying their fresh green 
leaves, like so many fringed banners, in the warm tropical air when the United 
States squadron assembled at Montevideo [Montevideo]. As has been said, 
the force was an imposing one. There were two United States frigates, the 
".Sabine" and the "St. Lawrence;" two sloops-of-war, the "Falmouth" and 
the " Preble ; " three brigs, the " Bainbridge," the " Dolphin," and the " Perry ;" 
six steamers especially armed for the occasion, the " Memphis," the " Cale- 
donia," the "Atlanta," the "Southern Star," the " Westernport," the " M. W. 
Chapin," and the " Metacomet ; " two armed storeshlps, the " .Supply " and the 
''Release;" the revenue steamer, "Harriet Lane;" and, lastly, the little 
"Water Witch" herself no longer defenseless, but all In fighting trim for hos- 
tilities. 

On the 25th of January, 1859, within just one week of four years from the 
firing upon the "Water Witch," the squadron got under way and came to 
anchor off Ascenclon, the capital of Paraguay. Meanwhile President Urquiza, 
of the Argentine Republic, who had offered his services to mediate the diffi- 
culty, had arrived at Ascenclon in advance of the squadron. The negotiations 
were reopened, and Commissioner Bowlin made his demand for instant repara- 
tion. All this time Flag Officer Shubrick was not idle. With such of our 
vessels as were capable of ascending the river, taking them through the diffi- 
culties created by the currents, shoals, and sand bars of the river, he brought 

* William Branford Shubrick was one of the most illustrious men whose name has appeared on 
the roll of United States naval officers. He was born in 1790; appointed midshipman United 
States Navy June 20, 1806; joined the sloop-of-war "Wasp" 1812; a year later was transferred 
to the frigate "Constellation;" aided in the capture of the British vessels " Cyane " and 
" I^evant ; " and in 1815 was awarded a sword by his native State. In 1820 was made commander ; 
in 1829 commanded the "Lexington; " in 1846 commanded the Pacific s(]iiadron, and filled 
various prominent positions extending over a period of sixty-one years, till May 12, 1876, when 
he died. 



LOPEZ COMES TO TERMS. 



o4o 



them to a chosen position, where they made ready in case of necessity to open 
fire. The force within striking distance of Paraguay consisted of 1740 men, 
besides the officers, and 78 guns, including 23 nine-inch shell guns and one 
shell o-un of eleven inches. 

Ships and guns proved to be ver)' strong arguments with Lopez. It did 
not take the Dictator-President long to see that the United States meant business, 
and that the time for trifling had passed and the time for serious work had 
indeed begun. President Lopez's cerebral processes worked with remarkable and 
encouraging celerity. By February 5th, within less than two weeks of the 
starting of the squadron from Montevideo, Commissioner Bowlin's demands 
were all acceded to. Ample apologies were made for firing on the " Water 




ONE OK THE " MIANTONOMAH S FOUR TEN-INCH BREECH-LUAUING RIFLES. 



Witch" and pecuniary compensation was given to the family of the sailor who 
had been killed. In addition to this, a new commercial treaty was made between 
the two countries, and cordial relations were fully restored between the two 
governments. When the squadron returned the Secretary of the Navy 
expressed the satisfaction of the government and the country in the follow- 
ing terms : — 

"To the zeal, energy, discretion, and courteous and gallant bearing of Flag-officer Shubrick 
and the officers under his command, in conducting an expedition far into the interior of a remote 
country, encountering not only great physical difficulties, but the fears, apprehensions and prejudices 
of numerous States; and to the good conduct of the brave men under his command, is the country 
largely indebted, not only for the success of the enterprise, but for the friendly feeling towards tha 
United States which now prevails in all that part of South America." 



344 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

To such a happy and peaceful conclusion were our difficulties with Paraguay 
finally brought. 

A period of thirty years elapsed before any serious difficulty occurred with 
any foreign powers. It was in 1891 that a serious difficulty threatened to 
disrupt our relations with Chili and possibly involve the United States in war 
with that power. Happily the matter reached a peaceful settlement. In 
January, 1891, civil war broke out in Chili, the cause of which Avas a contest 
between the letjislative branch of the government and the executive, for the 
control of affairs. The President of Chili, General Balmaceda, begfan to assert 
authority which the legislature, or " the Congressionalists," as the opposing 
party was called, resisted as unconstitutional and oppressive, and they accord- 
ingly proceeded to interfere with Balmaceda's Cabinet in its efforts to carry out 
the despotic will of the executive. 

Finally matters came to a point where appeal to arms was necessary. On 
the 9th of January the Congressional party took possession of the greater part 
of the Chilian fleet, the navy being in hearty sympathy with the Congression- 
alists, and the guns of the war-ships were turned against Balmaceda, Valparaiso, 
the capital, and other ports being blockaded by the ships. For a time Balma- 
ceda maintained control of the capital and the southern part of the country. 
The key to the position was Valparaiso, which was strongly fortified, Balma- 
ceda's army being massed there and placed at available points. 

At last the Congressionalists determined to attack Balmaceda at his capital 
and on August 21st landed every available fighting man at their disposal at 
Concon, about ten miles north of Valparaiso. They were attacked by the Dic- 
tator on the 2 2d, there being twenty thousand men on each side. The Dictator 
had the worst of it. Then he rallied his shattered forces, and made his last 
stand at Placillo, c'ose to Valparaiso, on the 28th. The battle was hot, the car- 
nage fearful , neither side asked or received quarter. The magazine rifles, 
with which the revolutionists were armed, did wonders. The odds were against 
Balmaceda ; both his generals quarreled in face of the enemy ; the army marched 
against the foe divided and demoralized. In the last battle both Balmaceda's 
generals were killed. The valor and the superior tactics of General Canto, leader 
of the Congressional army won the day. Balmaceda fled and eventually com- 
mitted suicide, and the Congressionalists entered the capital in triumph. 

Several incidents meantime had conspired, during the progress of this war, 
to rouse the animosity of the stronger party in Chili against the United States. 
Before the Congressionalists' triumph the steamship Itata, loaded with American 
arms and ammunition for Chili, sailed from San Francisco, and as this was a 
violation of the neutrality laws, a United States war vessel pursued her to the 
harbor of Icpiique, where she surrendered. Then other troubles arose. Our 
minister at Valparaiso, Mr. Egan, was charged by the Congressionalists, now 



AMERICAN SEAMEN ATTACKED. 



345 



in power, with disregarding international law in allowing the American 
Legation to become an asylum for the adherents of Balmaceda. Subsequently 
these refugees were permitted to go aboard American vessels and sail away. 
Then Admiral Brown, of the United States squadron, was, in Chili's opinion, 
guilty of having acted as a spy upon the movements of the Congressionalists' 
fleet at Ouinteros, and of bringing intelligence of its movements to Bal- 
maceda at Valparaiso. This, however, the Admiral stoutly denied. 

AN ATTACK UPON AMERICAN SEAMEN. 

The strong popular feeling of dislike which was engendered by this news 
culminated on the i6th of October, in an attack upon American seamen by a 
mob in the streets of 
the Chilian capita 
Captain Schley, com- 
mander of the United 
States cruiser, Balti- 
more, had given shore- 
leave to a hundred and 




UNITED STATES 12-INCH UREECH-LOAUING MOKT'AR, OR HOWITZER. 



seventeen petty officers and seamen, some of whom, when they had been 
on shore for several hours, were set upon by Chilians. They took refuge in a 
street car, from which, however, they were soon driven and mercilessly beaten, 
and a subordinate officer named Riggen fell, apparently lifeless. The American 
sailors, according to Captain Schley's testimony, were sober and conducting 
themselves with propriety when the attack was made. They were not armed, 
even their knives having been taken from them before they left the vessel. 

The assault upon those in the street car seemed to be only a signal for a 
general uprising ; and a mob which is variously estimated at from one thousand 
to two thousand people attacked our sailors with such fury that in a little while 
these men, whom no investigation could find guilty of any breach of the peace, 
were fleeing for their lives before an overwhelming crowd, among which were a 



346 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

number of the police of Valparaiso. In this affray eighteen sailors were stabbed, 
several dying from their wounds. 

Of course, the United States Government at once communicated with the 
Chilian authorities on the subject, expressing an intention to investigate the 
occurrence fully. The first reply made to the American Government by Signor 
Matta, the Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was to the effect that Chili would 
not allow anything to interfere with her own official investigation. 

An examination of all the facts was made on our part. It was careful and 
thorough, and showed that our Bag had been insulted in the persons of American 
seamen. Yet, while the Chilian Court of Inquiry could present no extenuating 
facts, that country refused at first to offer apology or reparation for the affront. 

In the course of the correspondence Minister Matta sent a note of instruc- 
tion to Mr. Montt, Chilian representative at Washington, in which he used most 
offensive terms in relation to the United States, and directed that the letter be 
given to the press for publication. 

After waiting for a long time for the result of the investigation at Valpa- 
raiso, and finding that, although no excuse or palliation had been found for the 
outrage, yet the Chilian authorities seemed reluctant to offer apology, the Presi- 
dent of the United States, in a messasfe to Congress, made an extended state- 
ment of the various incidents of the case and its legal aspect, and stated that on 
the 2 1 St of January he had caused a peremptory communication to be presented 
to the Chilian Government, by the American Minister at Santiago, in which 
severance of diplomatic relations was threatened if our demands for satisfac- 
tion, which included the withdrawal of Mr. Malta's insulting note, were not 
complied with. At the time that this message was delivered no reply had been 
sent to this note. 

Mr. Harrison's statement of the legal aspect of the case, upon which the 
final settlement of the difficulty was based was, that the presence of a war-ship 
of any nation in a port belonging to a friendly power is by virtue of a general 
invitation which nations are held to extend to each other ; that Commander 
Schley was invited, with his officers and crew, to enjoy the hospitality of Valpa- 
raiso ; that while no claim that an attack which an individual sailor may be 
subjected to raises an international question, yet where the resident population 
assault sailors of another country's war vessels, as at Valparaiso, animated by 
an animosity against the government to which they belong, that government 
must show the same enquiry and jealousy as though the representatives or flag 
of the nation had been attacked ; because the sailors are there by the order of 
their government. 

Fmally an ultimatum was sent from the State Department at Washington, 
on the 25th, to Minister Egan, and was by him transmitted to the proper 
Chilian authorities,, It demanded the retraction of Mr. Malta's note and suit 



MATTA'S IMPUDENT LETTER. 



347 



able apology and reparation for the insult and injury sustained by the United 
States. On the 28th of January, 1892, a dispatch from Chili was received, in 
which the demands of our Government were fully acceded to, the offensive 
letter was withdrawn and regret was expressed for the trouble. In his relation 
to this particular case Minister Egan's conduct received the entire approval of 
his Government. 

While the United States looked for a peaceful solution of this annoying 
international episode, the proper preparations were made for a less desirable 




HARPERS ftRKY. 



outcome. Our naval force was put in as efficient a condition as possible, and 
the vessels which were then in the navy yard were gotten ready for service with 
all expedition. If the Chilian war-scare did nothing else, it aroused a whole- 
some interest in naval matters throughout the whole of the United .States, and 
by focusing attention upon the needs of this branch of the public service, showed 
at once how helpless we might become in the event of a war with any first-class 
power. We can thank Chili that to-day the United States Navy, while far from 
being what it should be, is in a better condition than at any time in our history. 



348 DIFFICULTIES WITH FOREIGN POWERS. 

MONROE DOCTRINE. 

When the great Napoleon was overthrown, France, Russia, Prussia and 
Austria formed an alHance for preserving the " balance of power " and for sup- 
pressing revolutions within one another's dominions. This was at the time the 
Spanish South American colonies were in revolt, and there was a strong suspicion 
that the alliance intended to unite in their reduction. George Canning, the 
English Secretary of State, proposed to our country that we should unite with 
England in preventing such an outrage against civilization. It was a momentous 
question, and President Monroe consulted with Jefferson, Madison, Calhoun, and 
John Ouincy Adams, the Secretary of State, before making answer. The decision 
being reached. President Monroe embodied in his annual message to Congress 
in December, 1823, a clause which formulated what has ever since been known 
as the " Monroe Doctrine." It was written by John Ouincy Adams, and, re- 
ferring to the intervention of the allied Powers, said that we "should consider 
any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere 
as dangerous to our peace and safety ; " and further, " that the American conti- 
nents, by tlie free and independent condition which they have assumed and 
maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects lor future colonization 
by any European Powers." 

BEHRING SEA TROUBLE. 

Since the purchase of Alaska it has been difficult to come to an agreement 
witli England u|)on tlie water territory over which the United States has jurisdic- 
tion, 10 pr(>vent the hunters from slaughtering the animals out of season (from 
May 1st to July ist), and to exclude Canadian fishermen from American waters. 

We maintained that the islands we acquired with Alaska pushed our borders 
far out into the ocean, and gave us authority to claim Behring Sea as inland, but 
this was ruh'd against us by a " Fisheries Commission " appointed by the gov- 
ernments of the United States and Great Britain to decide that question, and to 
settle claims against fishermen sealing in the waters of the neighboring nation 

AL.VSKA DISPUTE. 

It is the Southerly branch of Alaska which presents serious difficulties 
between the United States and Great Britam. When the United States bought 
Alaska from Russia it was stipulated that the Southerly boundry be thirty miles 
from the coast until the line reaches the 141st meridian. So far as the line 
can be definitely fixed, it begins at the southernmost point of Prince of Wales 
Island. The treaty signed on January 30th, 1897, applies only to that of the 
141st meridian in the northerly part of Alaska. Until a treaty determining 
where the coast is from which the thirty mile strip is measured, it is felt that the 
most difficult questions are still unsettled. The main point involved is whether 
the boundry is to be measured from the mainland or from the outer fringe of 
islands along the coast. It is a repetition of the old contest over a closed sea, or 
mare clausum. which brought on the dispute referred to the Fisheries Commission. 



THE S,rORV OF AMERICA. 349 

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

On the 25th day of April, 1898, war was declared by the United States 
(jovernment against the Kingdom of Spain. The causes which led to the dec- 
laration of hostilities were, first, the inhuman treatment of the Cubans by the 
Spanish Government ; and, second, the destruction of die United States Battle- 
ship " Maine " in the harbor of Havana. 

In 1S95 a revolution began in Cuba, led by the brave Generals Maximo 
Gomez and Antonio Maceo. Widiin three years Spain had sent an army of 
nearly quarter of a million soldiers to the island but had failed to quell the re- 
bellion. The country was laid waste by fire and sword, and the Spanish, under 
the guise of protection, gathered the non-combatant Cubans into towns. The 
news soon Hashed over the wires that these rccoiiccntrados, as those in the 
garrisoned towns were called, were dying by thousands from starvation. 

United States Consul-General Fitz-Hugh Lee reported also that American 
ciiizens of the island had suffered greatly. Accordingly on January 25th the 
Battle-ship "Maine" was dispatched to Havana, with the consent of the Spanish 
Government, on a friendly visit, it being arranged that the Spanish Battle-ship 
" Vizcaya" should visit New York in return. 

On the evening of February 15th, 1S98, between nine and ten o'clock, the 
"Maine," while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, was blown to pieces and 266 of 
her crew were killed. The belief prevailed throughout the country that Spanish 
officials knew of or participated in the plans for destroying our battle-ship, 
and the official inquiry seemed to justify this belief 

In the meantime Senators Proctor, Thurston and others visited Cuba, and, 
returning, delivered speeches in the United States Senate which revealed a most 
shocking condition of affairs. They deemed it impossible for Spain to subdue the 
island e.xcept by practically exterminating its population, by starving the women 
and children which seemed to be their policy. These reports were confirmed by 
Consul-General Lee, and he also shared the belief that the "Maine" had been 
destroyed through Spanish treachery. The whole nation was intensely aroused. 

On March 8th, ^50,000,000 had been voted to strengthen our coast defenses. 
Heated debates in Congress followed. On April 19th a joint resolution was 
passed by both Houses and signed by the President, declaring " that the people 
of the island of Cuba are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent." 
The Government of Spain was ordered to release its authority and withdraw its 
land and naval forces from the island. The Spanish Minister, Polo, requested 
and was given his passport and departed for Canada, and United States Minister 
Woodiord, at Madrid, was promptly dismissed by that Government before he 
could present the President's ultimatum to Spain. 

Friday night, April 2 2d, the United .States fleet blockaded Havana and a call 
was prompdy made by the United States for 1 25,000 volunteers. 







REVIEW OF UNION AKMlEi AT WASI{INGTON, AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 




EIGHT-INCH GUN AND CARRIAGE OF THE '* BALTIMORH.' 

(Built at Ute Washington Navy Yard, uf American Steel.) 



the story ok our war with srain kor cuba's 

freedom:. 

Perhaps no conflict within the past thirty yrars has so aroused and 
interested the world as the war begun in the spring of 1898 between the King- 
dom of Spain and the United States of America. This conflict in some respects 
might be called a holy war, for it was inaugurated with the distinct object of 
relieving suffering humanity from oppression, tyranny, and abuses worse than 
slavery in the island of Cuba. It was undertaken by the United States, not for 
revenge on account of the lost battleship J/(?/;/^ ; nor was it for conquest or 
hope of reward. We were the nearest neighbors to this suffering and op- 
pressed land, and as such this country felt it incumbent upon it to take at least 
the initiatory steps towards the relief of those who suffered such tyrannical in- 
justice at our doors. The causes leading to declaration of hostilities have been 
previously recited in the chapter entitled " Difficulties with Foreign Powers," to 
which the reader is respectfully referred. Diplomatic relations were broken off 
between the two countries April 21st. Thus the barriers were all removed and 
the two nations were ready for the conflict. On April 22d the United States 
fleet was ordered to blockade Havana. On the 24th Spain declared war, and 
the United States Congress followed with a similar declaration on the 25th. 
The call for 75,000 volunteer troops was increased to 125,000 and subsequently 
to 200,000. The massing of men and stores was rapidly begun throughout the 
country. Within a month expeditions were organized for various points of 
attack, war vessels were bought, and ocean passenger steamers were converted 
into auxiliary cruisers and transports. By the first of July about 40,000 soldiers 
had been sent to Cuba and the Philippine Islands. The rapidity with which 
\ preparations were made and the victories gained and the progress shown by the 

351 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

Americans at once astonished and challenged the admiration of foreign nations, 
who had regarded America as a country unprepared for war by land or sea. 

On April 27th, following the declaration of war on the 25th, Admiral Samp- 
son, having previously blockaded the harbor of Havana, was reconnoitering-with 
three vessels in the vicinity of Matanzas, Cuba, when he discovered the Spanish 
forces building earthworks, and ventured so close in his efforts to investigate the 
same that a challenge shot was fired from the fortification, Rubal Cava. Admiral 
Sampson quickly formed the New York, Cincinnati, and Puritan into a triangle 
and opened fire with their eight-inch guns. The action was very spirited on 

both sides for the space of eighteen 
minutes, at the expiration of which time 
the Spanish batteries were silenced and 
the earthworks destroyed, without casu- 
alty on the American side, though two 
shells burst dangerously near the Nezu 
} 'ork. The last shot fired by the Ameri- 
cans was from one of the Puritans thir- 
teen-inch guns, which landed with 
deadly accuracy in the very centre of 
Rubal Cava and, exploding, completely 
destroyed the earthworks. This was 
the first action of the war, though it 
rould hardly be dignified by the name 
of a battle. 

The Battle of Manila. 

It was expected that the next en- 
gagement would be the bombardment 
of Morro Casde, at Havana. But it 
is the unexpected that often happens 
in war. In the Philippine Islands, on 
the other side of the world, the first 
real battle — one of the most remarkable in history — was to occur. 

On April 25th the following dispatch of eight potent words was cabled to 
Commodore Dewey on the coast of China : " Capture or destroy the Spanish 
squadron at Manila'" " Never," says James Gordon Bennett, " were instructions 
more effectively carried out. Within seven hours after arriving on the scene of 
action nothing remained to be done." It was on the 27th that Dewey sailed 
from Mirs Ba^y, China, and on the night of the 30th he lay before the entrance 
•of the harbor of Manila, seven hundred miles distant. Under the cover of dark- 
■jiess, with all lights extinguished on his ships, he daringly steamed into this 




GEORGE DEWEY. 




Copyright by J udye Co. PRESIDENT McKINLEY'S LOVE FOR CHILDREN 

Giving his buttonhcile carnation to a little yirl at one of his receptions 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 353 

dangerous harbor, which he beheved to be strewn with mines, and at daybreak 
engaged the Spanish tleet. Commodore Dewey knew it meant everything ior 
him and his fleet to win or lose this batde. He was in the enemy's country, 
7000 miles from home. The issue of this battle must mean victory, Spanish 
dungeons, or the bottom of the ocean. ''Keep cool and obey orders " was the signal 
he gave to his fleet, and then came the order to fire. The Americans had seven 
ships, the Olynnpia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord, Boston, and the dispatch- 
boat McCullough. The Spaniards had eleven, tlie Rcina Christina, Castilla, 
Don Antonio de Ulloa, Isla de Ltizon, Isla de Cuba, General Lezo, Marquis de 
Duero, Cano, Velasco, Isla de Mindanao, and a transport. 

From the beeinninrf Commodore Dewey fought on the offensive, and, after 
the manner of Nelson and Farragut, concentrated his fire upon the strongest 
ships one after another with terrible execution. The Spanish ships were inferior 
to his, but there were more of them, and they were under the protection of the 
land batteries. Tlie fire of the Americans was especially noted for its terrific 
rapidity and the accuracy of its aim. The battle lasted for about five hours, and 
resulted in the destruction of all the Spanish ships and the silencing of the land 
batteries. The Spanish loss in killed and wounded was estimated to be fully one 
thousand men, while on the American side not a ship was even seriously dam- 
aged and not a single man was killed outright, and only si.x were wounded. 
More than a month alter the battle. Captain Charles B. Gridley, Commander of 
the Olympia, died, though his death was the result of an accident received in the 
discharge of his duty during the battle, and not from a wound. On May 2d 
Commodore Dewey cut the cable connecting Manila with Hong Kong, and de- 
stroyed the fortifications at the entrance of Manila Bay, and took possession of 
the naval station at Cavite. This was to prevent communication between the 
Philippine Islands and the Government at Madrid, and necessitated the sending 
of Commodore Dewey's official account of the battle by the dispatch-boat Mc- 
Cidlongh to Hong Kong, whence it was cabled to the United States. After its 
receipt. May 9th, both Houses adopted resolutions of congratulation to Commo- 
dore Dewey and his officers and men for their gallantry at Manila, voted an 
appropriation for medals for the crew and a fine sword for the gallant Com- 
mander, and also passed a bill authorizing the President to appoint another 
Rear-Admiral, which honor was promptly conferred upon Commodore Dewey, 
accompanied by the thanks of the President and of the nation for the admirable 
and heroic services rendered his country. 

The Battle of Manila must ever remain a monument to the daring and 
courage of Admiral Dewey. However unevenly matched the two fleets may 
have been, the world agrees with the eminent foreign naval critic who declared: 
"This complete victory was the product of forethought, cool, well-balanced judg- 
ment, discipline, and bravery. It was a magnificent achievement, and Dewey 



354 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

will go down in history ranking with John Paul Jones and Lord Nelson as a 

naval hero." 

Admiral Dewey might have taken possession of the city of Manila imme- 
diately. He cabled the United States that he could do so, but the fact remained 
that he had not sufficient men to care for his ships and at the same time effect a 
successful landing in the town of Manila. Therefore he chose to remain on his 
ships, and though the city was at his mercy, he refrained from a bombardment 
because he believed it would lead to a massacre of the Spaniards on the part of 
the insurc^ents surrounding the city, which it would be beyond his power to stop. 
This humane disposition toward the conquered foe adds to the lustre of the 
hero's crown, and at the same time places the seal of greatness upon the brow 
of the victor. He not only refrained from bombarding the city, but received and 
cared for the wounded Spaniards upon his own vessels. Tlius, while he did all 
that was required of him without depriving his country of the life oi a smgle cit- 
izen, he manifested a spirit of humanity and generosity toward the vanquished 
foe fully in keeping with the sympathetic spirit which involved this nation in the 

war for humanity's sake. 

The Batde of Manila further demonstrated that a fleet with heavier guns is 
virtually invulnerable in a campaign with a squadron bearing lighter metal, how- 
ever gallantly the crew of the latter may fight. 

After the Battle of Manil? it was recognized that the Government had 
serious work on its hands. On May 4th President McKinley nominated ten 
new Major-Generals, including Thomas H. Wilson, Fitzhugh Lee, Wm. J. 
SewelUnd Joseph Wheeler, from private life, and promoted Brigadier-Generals 
Breckenridge, Otis. Coppinger, Shafter, Graham, Wade, and Merriam, from the 
regular arn^y. The organization and mobilization of troops was promptly begun 
and rapidly pushed. Meantime our naval vessels were acdvely cruising around 
the Island of Cuba, expecting the appearance of the Spanish fleet. 

The First American Loss of Life. 
On May nth the gunboat Wibmn^i^ton, revenue-cutter Hudson, and the 
torpedo-boat Winsloiv entered Cardenas Bay. Cuba, to attack the defenses and 
three small Spanish gunboats that had taken refuge in the harbor. The Winslotv 
being of light draft took the lead, and when within eight hundred yards of the 
fort was fired upon with disastrous effect, being struck eighteen times and ren- 
dered helpless. For more than an hour the frail little craft was at the mercy of 
the enemy's batteries. The revenue-cutter Hudson quickly answered her signal 
of distress by coming to the rescue, and as she was in the act of drawing the 
disabled boat away a shell from the enemy burst on the Winsloiv s deck, killing 
three of her crew outright and wounding many more. Ensign Worth Bagley, 
of the Winslow, who had recently entered active service, was one of the killed, 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 355 

He was the first officer wlio lost his life in the war. The same shell badly 
wounded Lieutenant Bernadou, Commander of the boat. The Hudson, amidst a 
rain of fire from the Spanish gunboats and fortifications, succeeded in towing the 
Winsloio to Key West, where the bodies of the dead were prepared for burial 
and the vessel was placed in repair. On May 12th the First Infantry landed 
near Port Cabanas, Cuba, with supplies for the insurgents, which they succeeded 
in delivering after a skirmish with the Spanish troops. This was the first land 
eneasrement of the war. 

The Bombardment of San Juan, Porto Rico. 

On the same date Admiral Sampson's squadron arrived at San Juan, Porto 
Rico, whither it had gone in the expectation of meeting with Admiral Cervera's 
fleet, which had sailed westward from the Cape Verde Islands on April 29th, 
after Portugal's declaration of neutrality. The Spanish fleet, however, did not 
materialize, and Admiral Sampson, while on the ground, concluded it would be 
well to draw the fire of the forts that he might at least judge of their strength 
and efficiency, if indeed he should not render them incapable of assisting the 
Spanish fleet in the event of its resorting to this port at a later period. Accord- 
ingly, Sa^npson bombarded the batteries defending San Juan, inflicting much 
damage and sustaining a loss of two men killed and six wounded. The loss of 
the enemy is not known. The American warships sustained only trivial injuries, 
but after the engagement it could be plainly seen that one end of Morro Castle 
was in ruins. The Cabras Island fort was silenced and the San Carlos battery 
was damaged. No shots were aimed at the city by the American fleet. 

Deeming it unnecessary to wait for the Spanish warships in the vicinity of 
San Juan, Sampson withdrew his squadron and sailed westward in the hope of 
finding Cervera's fleet, which was dodging about the Caribbean Sea. It was 
first heard of at the French island, Martinique, whence alter a short stay it sailed 
westward. Two days later it halted at the Dutch island, Curacoa, for coal and 
supplies. After leaving this point it was again lost sight of. Then began the 
chase of Commodore Schley and Admiral Sampson to catch the fugitive. Schley, 
with his flying squadron, sailed from Key West around the western end of Cuba, 
and Sampson kept guard over the Windward and other passages to the east of 
the island. It was expected that one or the other of these fleets would encounter 
the Spaniard on the open sea, but in this they were mistaken. Cervera was not 
making his way to the Mexican shore on the west, as some said, nor was he 
seeking to slip through one of the passages into the Adantic and sail home to 
Spain, nor attack Commodore Watson's blockading vessels before Havana, 
according to other expert opinions expressed and widely published. For many 
days the hunt of the warships went on like a fox-chase. On May 23d Commo- 
dore Schley blockaded Cienfuegos, supposing that Cervera was inside the harbor. 



356 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



but on the 24th he discovered his mistake and sailed to Santiago, where he lay 
before the entrance to the harbor for three days, not knowing whether or not 
the Spaniard was inside. On May 28th it was positively discovered that he had 
Cervera botded up in the narrow harbor of Santiago. He had been there since 
the 19th, and had landed 800 men, 20,000 Mauser rifles, a great supply of 
ammunition, and four great guns for the defense of the city. 

Operations Against Santiago. 

On May 31st Commodore Schley opened fire on the fortifications at the 

mouth of the harbor, which lasted for 
about half an hour. This was for the 
purpose of discovering the location 
and strength of the batteries, some of 
which were concealed, and in this he 
was completely successful. Two of 
the batteries were silenced, and the 
flagship of the Spaniards, which took 
part in the engagement, was damaged. 
The Americans received no injury to 
vessels and no loss of men. On June 
1st Admiral Sampson arrived before 
Santiago, and relieved Commodore 
Schley of the chief command of the 
forces, then consisting of sixteen war- 
ships. 

Admiral Sampson, naturally a 
cautious commander, suffered great 
apprehension lest Cervera might slip 
out of the harbor and escape during 
the darkness of the night or the pro- 
gress of a storm, which would compel 
the blockadincr fleet to stand far off 
shore. There was a point in the channel wide enough for only one warship to 
pass at a time, and if this could be rendered impassable Cervera's doom would 
be sealed. How to reach and close this passage was the difficult problem to be 
solved. On either shore of the narrow channel stood frowning forts with cannon, 
and there were other fortifications to be passed before it could be reached. Young 
Lieutenant Hobson, a naval engineer, had attached himself to Admiral Samp- 
son's flagship, Ne-iV York, just before it sailed from Key West, and it was this 
young man of less than thirty years who solved the problem for Admiral Samp- 
son by a plan all his own, which he executed with a heroic daring that finds 




WILUAM R. SHAFTER. 



358 xHE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

perhaps no parallel in all naval history. At three o'clock A. M., June 3d, in 
company with seven volunteers from the New York and other ships, he took the 
United States collier ]\Icrrimac, a. large vessel with 600 tons of coal on board, 
and started with the purpose of sinking it in the channel. The chances were 
ten to one that the batteries from the forts would sink the vessel before it could 
reach the narrow neck, and the chances were hardly one in one hundred that 
any of the men on board the collier would come out of this daring attempt alive. 
The ship had hardly started when the forts opened fire, and amid the thunder of 
artillery and a rain of steel and bursting shells the boat with its eight brave 
heroes held on its way, as steadily as if they knew not their danger. The chan- 
nel was reached, and the boat turned straight across the channel. The sea- 
doors were opened and torpedoes exploded by the intrepid crew, sinking the 
vessel almost instandy near the position desired. As the ship went down the 
men, with side-arms buckled on, took to a small boat, and, escape being impos- 
sible, they surrendered to the enemy. It seems scarcely less than a miracle that 
any of the eight men escaped, yet the fact remained that not one of them was seri- 
ously injured. The Spaniards were so impressed with this act of bravery and 
heroism that they treated the prisoners with the utmost courtesy, confined them 
in Morro Casde, and Admiral Cervera promptly sent a special officer, under a 
flag of truce, to inform Admiral Sampson of their safety. The prisoners were 
kept confined in Morro Castle for some clays, when they were removed to a 
place of greater safety, where they were held until exchanged on July 7th. 

THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO AND THE COMING OF THE ARMY. 

On the 6th of June the American fleet under Admiral Sampson bombarded 
the forts of Santiago for about three hours. The gunners were all instructed, 
however, to spare Morro Castle lest they should inflict injury upon Hobson and 
his heroic companions, wlio were then confined within its walls. Nearly all of 
the fortifications at the entrance of the harbor were silenced. An examination 
after the fleet had withdrawn revealed the fact that no lives were lost on tjie 
American side, and none of the vessels were seriously injured. The Spanish 
ship Reiiia Mercedes was sunk in the harbor, she being the only ship from the 
enemy's fleet which ventured within the range of the Americans' guns. 

The danger of entering the narrow harbor in the face of Cervera's fleet 
rendered it necessary to take the city by land, and the Government began pre- 
parations to send General Shafter with a large force from Tampa to aid the fleet 
in reducing the city. Some 15,000 men, including the now famous Rough 
Riders of New York, were hurried upon transports, anci under the greatest con- 
voy of gunboats, cruisers, and battleships which ever escorted an army started 
for the western end of the island of Cuba. 

But the honor of makinof the first landing: on Cuban soil belones to the 



777^ SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



359 



marines. It was on June the loth, a few days before the army of General 
Shafter sailed from Tampa, that a landing was effected by Colonel Huntinoton's 
six hundred marines .at Caimanera, Guantanomo Bay, some distance east of 
Santiago. The object of this landing was twofold : first, to secure a place where 
our warships could safely take on coal from colliers, and, second, to unite if pos- 
sible with the insurgents in harassing the Spaniards until General Shafter's army 
could arrive. Furthermore, Guantanomo Bay furnished the American ships a 
safe harbor in case of storm. 

In the whole history of the war few more thrilling passages are to be found 

than the record of this brave band's 

achievements. The place of landing '■ 

was a low, round, bush-covered hill on 
the eastern side of the bay. On the 
crest of the hill was a small clearing 
occupied by an advance post of the 
Spanish army. When the marines 
landed and began to climb the hill, the 
enemy with litde resistance retreated 
to the woods, and the marines were 
soon occupying the cleared space 
abandoned by them. They had scarcely 
begun to compliment themselves on 
their easy victory when they discovered 
tliat the retreat had only been a snare 
to lure them into the open space, while 
unfortunately all around the clearincr 
the woods grew thick, and their unpro- 
tected position was also overlooked by 
a rano'e of hicrher hills covered with a 
dense undergrowth. Thus the Spanish 
were able under cover of the bushes 
to creep close up to our forces, and 

they soon began to fire upon them from the higher ground of the wooded range. 
The marines replied vigorously to the fire of their hidden foe, and thus continued 
their hit-and-miss engagement for a period of four days and nights, with only 
occasional intermissions. Perhaps the poor marksmanship of the Spaniards is 
to be thanked for the fact that they were not utterly annihilated. On the fourth 
day the Spanish gave up the contest and abandoned the field. 

Major Henry C. Cochrane, second in command, states that he slept only an 
hour and a half in the four da\'s, and that many of his men became so exhausted 
tliat they fell asleep standing on their feet with their rifles in their hands. It is 




MAJOK-GENERAL FITZHUGH LEE. 



360 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

remarkable that during the four days the Americans lost only six killed and 
about twenty wounded. The Spaniards suffered a loss several times as great, 
fifteen of them having been found by the Americans dead on the field. It is not 
known how many they carried away or how many were wounded. 

THE LANDING OF SHAFTEr's ARMY. 

On June 13th troops began to leave Tampa and Key West for operations 
against Santiago, and on June 20th the transports bearing them arrived off that 
city. Two days later General Shafter landed his army of 16,000 soldiers at 
Biaquiri, a short distance east of the entrance to the harbor, with the loss of 
only two men, and they by accident. Before the coming of the troops the Span- 
ish had evacuated the village of Biaquirif which is a litde inland from the anchor- 
age bearing the same name, and set fire to the town, blowing up two magazines 
and destroyino; the railroad round-house containine several locomotives. As 
the transports neared the landing-place Sampson's ships opened fire upon 
Juragua, engaging all the forts for about six miles to the west. This was done 
to distract the attention of the Spanish from the landing soldiers, and was 
entirely successful. After the forts were silenced the Nczu Orleans and several 
gunboats shelled the woods in advance of the landing troops. The soldiers 
went ashore in full figlning trim, each man carrying thirty-si.x rations, two hun- 
dred rounds of ammunition for his rifle, and a shelter tent. 

While the troops were landing at Biaquiri, the batdeship Texas, hitherto 
considered as an unfortunate ship by the attaclies of the navy, completely 
changed her reputation and distinguished herself by assailing and silencing, 
unaided, the Spanish battery La .Socapa at Santiago, which had hitherto with- 
stood the attacks against it, though all the ships of Commodore Schley's com- 
mand had twice fiercely bombarded it without result. Captain Philip and his 
men were complimented in warm terms of praise by Admiral Sampson. The 
Texas was struck but once, and that by the last shot from the Spanish fort, 
killing one man and wounding eight others, seriously damaging the ship. 

THE VICTORY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS. 

On June 24th the force under General Shafter reached Jaragua, and the 
batde by land was now really to begin. It was about ten miles out from San- 
tiago at a point known as Las Guasimas. The country was covered with high 
grass and chaparral, and in this and on the wooded hills a strong force of 
Spaniards was hidden. Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders, tech- 
nically known as the First Volunteer Cavalry, under command of Colonel Wood, 
were in the fight, and it is to their bravery and dash that the glory of the day 
chiefly belongs. Troops under command of General Young had been sent out 
in advance, with the Rough Riders on his flank. There were about 1200 of the 



t 




Tlfl! 




THE ELECTRIC TOWER, PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION 

This magnificent architectural <_entrepiece of ihe Exposilicm is 40t* feel in height. The main body of the tower 

feet high and SO lect square, 'J he statue of the Goddess of Light which crowns the tower is 18 feet tall. 

tower '-lands in the centre of the great basin, all about its base are many fountains playing, and 

from the southern face a cascade, 80 feet wide and 75 feet high, pours like a bridal veil. 

'I'here are nearly lUO searchlights used in this tower, and it is illuminated by 

40,0(X) incandescent lamps. It looks like a pillar nf fire at night. 



is nearly :iOO 
The 




E.5 

V >, 






O 
> 

HI 



DC 
UJ 

H 
< 

LU 

cc 



3 rt 
c H 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



36r 



cavalry in all, including- the Rough Riders and the First and Tenth Regulars. 
They encountered a body ot two thousand Spaniards in a thicket, whom they 
fought dismounted. The volunteers were especially eager for the fight, and, 
perhaps due somewhat to their own imprudence, were led into an ambuscade, as 
perfect as was ever planned by an Indian. The main body ot the Spaniards was 
posted on a hill approached by two heavily wooded slopes and fortified by two 
blockhouses flanked by intrenchments of stones and fallen trees. At the bottom 
of these hills run two roads, along one of which the Rough Riders marched, and 
along the other eight troops of the Eighth and Tenth Cavalry under General 
Youne. These roads are little more 
than gullies, very narrow, and at places 
almost impassable. Nearly halt a mile 
separated Roosevelt's men from the 
Regulars, and it was in these trails that 
the battle began. 

For an hour they held their posi- 
tion in the midst ot an unseen force, 
which poured a perfect hail of bullets 
upon them from in front and on both 
sides. At length, seeing that their 
only way of escape was by dashing 
boldly at the hidden foe, Colonel Wood 
took command on the right of his col- 
umn of Rough Riders, placing Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Roosevelt at the left, 
and thus, with a rousing yell, they leil 
their soldiers in a rushing- charge b< - 
fore which the Spaniards fled from the 
hills and the victorious assailants took 
the blockhouses. The Americans hatl 
sixteen killed and fifty-two wounded, 
forty-two of the casualties occurring to the Rough Riders and twenty-six 
among the Regulars. It is estimated that the Spanish killed were nearly or 
quite one hundred. Thirty-seven were found by the Americans dead on the 
ground. They had carried off their wounded, and doubtless thought they had 
taken most of the killed away also. 




ADMIRAL WILLIAM T. SAMPSON. 



PREPARING FOR THE ASSAULT UPON SANTIAGO. 

The victory of the Rouirh Riders and the Reo-ulars at La Ouasina, though 
so dearly bought, stimulated the soldiers of the whole army with the spirit of 
■war and the desire for an opportunity to join in the conquest. They had not 



362 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

long to wait. The advance upon Santiago was vigorously prosecuted on the 
land side, while the ships stood guard over the entrapped Spanish Admiral 
Cervera in the harbor, and, anon, shelled every fort that manifested signs of 
activity. On June 25th, Sevilla, within sight of Santiago, was taken by General 
Chaffee, and an advance upon the city was planned to be made in three columns 
by way of Altares, Firmeza, and juragua. General Garcia widi 5000 Cuban 
insurgents had placed himself some time before at the command of the American 
leader. On the 2Sth of June another large expedition of troops was landed, so 
that the entire force under General Shafter, including the Cuban allies, num- 
bered over 22,000 fighting men. 

The enemy fell back at all points until the right of the American column 
was within three miles of Santiago, and by the end of June the two armies had 
well-defined positions. The Spanish intrenchments extended around the city, 
being kept at a distance of about three and one-half miles from the corporation 
limits. The trenches were occupied by about 12,000 Spanish soldiers, and there 
were some eood fortifications alonfj the line. 

It was the policy of General Shafter to distribute his forces so as to face 
this entire line as nearly as possible. A week was consumed, after the landing 
was completed. In making these arrangements and in sending forward the 
artillery, during which time the battle of La Ouasina, referred to, and other 
skirmishes and engagements occurred. Meantime the ships of Admiral Samp- 
son had dragged up the cables and connected them by tap-wires with Shafter's 
headquarters, thus establishing communication directly with Washington from 
tlie scene of battle. 

THE BATTLES OF SAN JUAN AND EL CANEY. 

The attack began July ist. Involving the whole line, but the main struggle 
occurred opposite the left centre of the column on the heights of San Juan, and 
the next greatest encraofement was on the ricrht of the American line at the little 
town of El Caney. These two points are several miles apart, the city of San- 
tiago occupying very nearly the apex of a triangle of which a line connecting 
these two positions would form the base. John R. Church thus described the 
battles of July ist and 2d : 

"El Caney was taken by General Lawton's men after a sharp contest and 
severe loss on both sides. Here as everywhere there were blockhouses and 
trenches to be carried In the face of a hot fire from Mauser rifles, and the rifles 
were well served. The jungle must disturb the aim seriously, for our men did 
not suffer severely while under Its cover, but In crossing clearings the rapid fire 
of the repeating rifles told with deadly effect. The object of the attack on El 
Caney was to crush the Spanish lines at a point near the city and allow us to 
gain a high hill from which the place could be bombarded if necessary. In all 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



363 



of this we were entirely successtul. The engagement began at 6.40 A. m., and 
by 4 o'clock the Spaniards were forced to abandon the place and retreat toward 
their lines nearer the city. The fight was opened by Capron's battery, at a 
range of 2400 yards, and the troops engaged were Chaffee's brinade, the 
Seventh, Tweltth, and Seventeenth Infantry, who moved on Caney from the east; 
Colonel Miles' brigade of the b'lrst, Fourth, and Twenty-fifth Infantry, operating 
from the south ; while Ludlow's brigade, containing the Eighth and Twenty- 
second Infantry and Second Massachusetts, made a detour to attack from the 
southwest. The Spanish force is thought to have been 1500 to 2000 strono-. 
It certainly fought our men for nine 
hours, but of course had the advantage 
of a lort and strong intrenchments. 

"The operations of our centre 
were calculated to cut the communica- 
tions of Santiago with El Morro and 
permit our forces to advance to the 
bay, and the principal effort of General 
Linares, the Spanish commander in the 
field, seems to have been to defeat this 
movement. He had fortified San Juan 
strongly, throwing up on it intrench- 
ments that in the hands of a more de- 
termined force would have been im- 
pregnable. 

"The battle of San Juan was 
opened by Grimes' battery, to which the 
enemy replied with shrapnell. The cav- 
alry, dismounted, supported by Haw- 
kins' brigade, advanced up the valley 
from the hill of El Pozo, forded sev- 
eral streams, where they lost heavily, commodohe john crittenden watson, 

, •' , Commander ot the Blockading Fleet at Havana. 

and deployed at the foot of the series 

of hills known as San Juan under a sharp fire from all sides, which was ex- 
ceedingly annoying because the enemy could not be tliscerned, owing to the 
long range and smokeless powder. They were under fire for two hours 
before the charge could be made and a position reached under the brow of 
the hill. It was not until nearly 4 o'clock that the neighboring hills were 
occupied by our troops and the final successful effort to crown the ridge could 
be made. The obstacles interposed by the Spaniards made these charges any- 
thing but the 'rushes' which war histories mention so often. They were slow 
and painful advances through difficult obstacles and a withering fire. The 



imiK^i-' j^ v^' •* 


Wj! 




■ 


^HBSSSL^rki 


««■' 


^ 'i 


pi^^^H 


l|H| 


Ik 


- 


'i^i^^^^^^^l 


1 


^^^HR ■^■- 




'^^^^1 


^H| 


Hl^l 




H^|H 


^^H 


^^H 




^^^^1 


w 


^^^^^^^1 


^^^H 


■ 


^1 


9 


^^^^^1 


^H 



^ THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

last 'charge' lasted an hour, but at 445 the fire ceased, with San Juan in our 

^°^^?-n°^' Spaniards made liberal use of barbed-wire fencing, which proved to be 
so effective as a stop to our advance that it is likely to take its place among 
approved defensive materials in future wars. It was used in two ways : Wires 
were stretched near the ground to trip up our men when on the run. Beyona 
them were fences in parallel lines, some being too high to be vaulted over. 

•• The obje^ct of our attack was a blockhouse on the top of the hill of San Juan, 
euarded bv trenches and the defenses spoken of a mile and a halt long. Our 
troops advanced steadily against a hot fire maintained by the enemy who used 
their rifles with accuracy, but did not cling to their works stubbornly when we 
reached them. San Juan was carried in the afternoon. The attack on Agua- 
dores was also successful, though it was not intended to be more than a feint to 
draw off men who might otherwise have increased our difficulties at San uan. 
By nightfall General Shafter was able t. teU-graph that he had carried all the 
outwo^'rks and was within three-quarters of a mile of the city. 

"Thou-h the enemy's lines were broken in the principal places, they yielded 
no more th^n was forced from them, and the battle was resumed on the 2d. The 
last day saw our left flank resdng on the bay and our hues drawn around the 
city within easy gun-fire. Fears were entertained that the enemy would evacuate 
the place, and the right flank was pushed around to the north and eventually to 

the northwest of the city." 

In the fio-ht at San Juan General Linares, commanding the Spanish forces 
in Santiago, "was severely wounded and transferred the command to General 
Jose Toral, second in authority. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF CERVERa's FLEET. 

Durincr the previous two days' fight by land the fleet of Admiral Cervera 
in Santiaoo'harbor had taken an active part in shelling our positions, with no 
inconsiderable effect; and General Sliafter, largely on this account, had about 
despaired of taking the city, with the force at lus command. In iact, he went so 
far on the morning of July 3^ as to telegraph Washington that his losses had 
been crreatly underestimated, that he met with stronger resistance than he had 
anticip^'ated, and was seriously considering falling back to a position five milesto 
the rear to await reinforcements. He was also anxious for an mterview with 
Admiral Sampson. The fleet had been shelling the enemy during the two days 
fiMn, but it was necessary that the navy and army have a clearer understanding; 
and at S.30 o'clock on Sunday morning Admiral Sampson with his flagship New 
York steamed eastward for the purpose of conferring with the General. 

General Miles telegraphed General Shafter. in response to his request, to 
hold his position, that he would be with him in a week with strong reinforce- 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



/>5 



merits; and he promptly started two expeditions, aggrregating over oooo men, 
which reached Santiago on the 8th and loth respectively, in time to witness the 
closing engagements and surrender of the city. But fortune again favored 
our cause and completely changed the situation, unexpectedly to the American 
commanders of the land and naval forces. 

It was on Sunday morning, July 3d, just before Sampson landed to meet 
Shafter, that Admiral Cervera, in obedience to commands from his home oovern- 
ment, endeavored to run his fleet past the blockading squadron of the Ameri- 
cans, with the result that all of his ships were destroyed, nearly c;oo of his men 
killed and wounded, and himself and 
about 1300 others were made prison- 
ers. This naval engagement was one 
of the most dramatic and terrible in all 
the history of contlict upon the seas; 
and, as it was really the beginning ot 
the end of what promised to be a long 
and terrible struggle, it was un- 
doubtedly the most important battle of 
the war. 

It had been just one month, to a 
day, since Hobson sunk the ]Mcyri>nac Til 
the harbor's mouth to keep Cervera in, 
and for nearly one month and a half the 
fleets of Schley and Sampson had lain 
like watch-dofTS before the Sfate without 
for one moment relaxinsr their vigilance. 
The quiet of Sunday morning brooded 
over the scene. Even the winds 
seemed resting from their labors and the 
sea lay smooth as glass. For two days 
before, July ist and 2d, the fleets had 
bombarded the forts of Santiago for the fourth time, and all the ships except the 
Oregoji had steam down so low as to allow them a speed of only five knots an 
hour. At half-past nine o'clock the bugler sounded the call to quarters, and the 
Jackies appeared on deck rigged in their cleanest clothes for their regular 
Sunday inspection. On board the Texas the devout Captain Philip had sounded 
the trumpet-call to religious services. In an instant a line of smoke was seen 
coming out of the harbor by the watch on the loiva, and from that vessel's yard a 
signal was run up — " The enemy is escaping to the westward." Simultaneously, 
from her bridge a six-pounder boomed on the still air to draw the attention ot 
the other ships to her fluttering signal. On every vessel white masses were 




BEAK- ADMIRAL WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY. 



366 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

seen scrambling forward. Jackies and firemen tumbled over one another rush- 
ing to their stations. Officers jumped into the turrets through manholes, dressed 
in their best uniforms, and captains rushed to their conning towers. There was 
no time to waste — scarcely enough to get the battle-hatches screwed on tight. 
Jingle, jingle, went the signal-bells in the engine-rooms and " Steam ! Steam ! " 
the captains cried through the tubes. Far below decks, in 125 to 150 degrees of 
heat, naked men shoveled in the black coal and forced drafts were put on. 

One minute after the Iowa fired her signal-gun she was moving toward the 
harbor. From under the Castle of Morro came Admiral Cervera's flagship, the 
Infanta Maria Teresa, followed by her sister armored cruisers, Almirante 
Oqnendo and I'izcaya — so much alike that they could not be distinguished at 
any distance. There was also the splendid Cristobal Colon, and after them all 
the two magnificent torpedo destroyers, Pliiton and Furor. The Teresa opened 
fire as she sighted the American vessels, as did all of her companions, and the 
forts from the heights belched forth at the same time. Countless geysers around 
our slowly approaching battleships showed where the Spanish shells exploded 
in the water. The Americans replied. The battle was on, but at a long range 
of two or three miles, so that the secondary batteries could not be called into 
use ; but thirteen-inch shells from the Oregon and Indiana and the twelve-inch 
shells from the Texas and lozva were churning up the water around the enemy. At 
this juncture it seemed impossible for the Americans to head off the Spanish 
cruisers from passing the western point, for they had come out of the harbor at 
a speed of thirteen and one-half knots an hour, for which the blockading fleet 
was not prepared. But Admiral Sampson's instructions were simple and well 
understood — "Should the enemy come out, close in and head him off" — and 
every ship was now endeavoring to obey that standing command while they 
piled on coal and steamed up. 

Meanwhile from the rapidly approaching Nezv York the signal fluttered — 
"Close into the mouth of the harbor and engage the enemy; " but the Admiral 
was too far away, or the men were too busy to see this signal, which they were 
nevertheless obeying to the letter. 

It was not until the leading Spanish cruiser had almost reached the western 
point of the bay, and when it was evident that Cervera was leading his entire 
fleet in one direction, that the battle commenced in its fury. The loiua and the 
Oregojt headed straight for the shore, intending to ram if possible one or more 
of the Spaniards. The Indiana and the Texas were following, and the Brooklyn, 
in the endeavor to cut off the advance ship, was headed straight for the western 
point. The little unprotected Gloucester steamed right across the harbor mouth 
and engaged the Oqnendo at closer range than any of the other ships, at the 
same time firing on the Furor and Pluton, which were rapidly approaching. 

It then became apparent that the Oregon and Iowa could not ram and that the 



THE SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR. 367 

Brooklyn could not head them oh' as she had hoped, and, turning in a parallel 
course with them, a running fight ensued. Broadside after broadside came fast 
with terrific slaughter. The rapid-fire guns of the loiva nearest the Te7-esa 
enveloped the former vessel in a mantle ot smoke and flame. She was followed 
by the Oregon, Indiana, Texas, and Brooklyn, all pouring a rain of red-hot steel 
and e.xploding shell into the fleeing cruisers as they passed along in their desperate 
effort to escape. The Furor and Pinion dashed like mad colts for the Brook- 
lyn, and Commodore Schley signaled — " Repel torpedo destroyers." All the 
heavy ships turned their guns upon the little monsters. It was short work. 
Clouds of black smoke rising from their thin sides showed how seriously they 
suffered as they floundered in the sea. 

The Brooklyn and Oregon dashed on after the cruisers, followed by the 
other big ships, leaving the Furor and Pluion to the Gloucesier, hoping the Neio 
York, which was coming in the distance, would arrive in time to help her out if 
she needed it. The firing from the main and second batteries of all the battle- 
ships, Oregon, lozca, Texas, and also the Brooklyn, was turned upon the Vizcaya, 
Teresa, and Oqucndo with such terrific broadsides and accuracy of aim that the 
Spaniards were driven from their guns repeatedly ; but the officers gave the men 
liquor and drove them back, beating and sometimes shooting down those who 
weakened, without mercy; but under the terrific fire of the Americans the poor 
wretches were again driven away or fell mangled by their guns or stunned 
from the 'concussions of the missiles on the sides of their ships. 

Presendy flames and smoke burst out from the Teresa and the Oqucndo. 
The fire leaped from the port-holes ; and amid the din of battle and above it all 
rose the wild cheers of the Americans as both these splendid ships slowly reeled 
like drunken men and headed for the shore. "They are on fire! We've finished 
them," shouted the gunners. Down came the Spanish flags. The news went 
all over the ships — it being commanded by Commodore Schley to keep every- 
one informed, even those far below in the fire-rooms — and from engineers and 
firemen in the hot bowels of the great leviathans to the men in the fighting-tops 
the welkin rang until the old ships reverberated with exuberant cheers. 

This was 10.20 A.M. Previously, the two torpedo boats had gone down, 
and only two dozen of their 140 men survived, these having been picked up by 
the Gloucester, which plucky little unprotected "dare-devil," not content with the 
destruction she had courted and escaped only as one of the unexplainable mys- 
teries of Spanish gunnery, was coming up to join the chase after bigger game; 
and it was to Lieutenant Wainwright, her commander, that Admiral Cervera sur- 
rendered. The J/ct/;/^ a:'^.f avenged. (Lieutenant Wainwright was executive offi- 
cer on that ill-fated vessel when she was blown up, February i 5th.) Cervera was 
wounded, hatless, and almost naked when he was taken on board the Gloiiccsier. 
Lieutenant Wainwright cordially saluted him and grasped him by the hand, saying, 



368 THE SPANISH-AMIIRICAN V/AR. 

"I coH'Tatulate you, Admiral Cervera, upon as gallant a fight as was ever made 
upon the sea." He placed his cabin at the service of Cervera and his officers, 
while his surgeon dressed their wounds and his men did all they could for their 
comfort — Wainwright supplying the Admiral with clothing. Cervera was over- 
come with emotion and the face of the old gray-bearded warrior was suffused in 
tears. The loiva and Indiana came up soon after the C^^wt'^'/^r and assisted 
in the rescue of the drowning Spaniards froni the Oquendo and Teresa, after 
which they all hurried on after the vanishing Brooklyn and Oregon, which were 
pursuing the llzeaya and Colon, \\\ft only two remaining vessels of Cervera's 
splendid fleet. From pursuer and pursued the smoke rose in volumes and the 
booming guns over the waters sang the song of destruction. 

In twenty-four minutes after the sinking of the Teresa and Oquendo, the 
Vizeaya, riddled by the Oregon' s great shells and burning fiercely, hauled down 
her llag and headed for the shore, where she hung upon the rocks. In a dying 
effort she had tried to ram the Brooklyn, but the fire of the big cruiser was too 
hot for her. The Texas and the little \'ixe)i were seen to be about a mile to the 
rear, and the I'izeaya was left to them and the loiva, the latter staying by her 
finally, while the Texas and Vixen followed on. 

It looked like a forlorn hope to catch the Colon. She was four and one-half 
miles away. But the Brooklyn and the Oregon were running like express trains, 
and the Texas sped after the fugitives with all her might. The chase lasted two 
hours. Firing ceased, and every power of the ship and the nerve of commodore, 
captains, and officers were devoted to increasing the speed. Men from the guns, 
naked to the waist and perspiring in streams, were called on deck for rest and 
an airing. It was a grimy and dirty butjolly set of Jackies, and jokes were merrily 
cracked as they sped on and waited. Only the men in the fire-rooms were work- 
ing as never before. It was their battle now, a battle of speed. At 12.30 it was 
seen the Americans were gaining. Cheers went up and all was made ready. 
" We may wing that fellow yet," said Commodore Schley, as he commanded 
Captain Clark to try a big thirteen-inch shell. "Remember the Maine" was 
flung out on a pennant from the mast-head of the Oregon, and at 8,500 yards she 
began to send her 1,000-pound shots shrieking over the Brooklyn after the flying 
Spaniard. One threw tons of water on board the fugitive, and the Brooklyn a few 
minutes later with eight-inch guns began to pelt her sides. Everyone expected 
a game fight from the proud and splendid Colo7i with her smokeless powder 
and rapid-fire guns ; but all were surprised when, after a feeble resistance, at 
I.I 5 o'clock her captain struck his colors and ran his ship ashore sixty miles 
from Santiago, opening her sea-valves to sink her after she had surrendered. 

Victory was at last complete. As the Brooklyn and Oregon moved upon 
the prey word of the surrender was sent below, and naked men poured out of 
the fire-rooms, black with smoke and dirt and glistening with perspiration, but 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 369 

wild with joy. Commodore Schley gazed down at the grimy, gruesome, joyous 
firemen with glistening eyes suspicious of tears, and said, in husky voice, eloquent 
with emotion, '"Those are the fellows who made this day." Then he signaled — 
"The enemy has surrendered." The Texas, five miles to the east, repeated the 
signal to Admiral Sampson some miles further away, coming at top speed of the 
A'eia York. Next the Commodore signaled the Admiral — "A glorious victory 
has bee?i achieved. Details contnmnicatcd later!' And then, to all the ships, 
"This is a oreat day for oicr country," a.\\ oi \\\\\c\\ were repeated by the Te.xas 
to the ships further east. The cheering was wild. Such a scene was never, 
perhaps, witnessed upon the ocean. Admiral Sampson arrived before the Colon 
sank, and placing the great nose of the New York against that vessel pushed her 
into shallow water, where she sank, but was not entirely submerged. Thus per- 
ished from the earth the bulk of the sea power of .Spain. 

The Spanish losses were 1,800 men killed, wounded, and made prisoners, 
and six ships destroyed or sunk, the property loss being about $12,000,000. 
The American loss was one man killed and three wounded, all from the Brooklyn, 
a result little short of a miracle from the fact that the Brooklyn was hit thirty- 
six times and nearly all the ships were struck more than once. 

The prisoners were treated with the utmost courtesy. Many of them were 
taken or rescued entirely naked, and scores of them were wounded. Their be- 
havior was manly and their fortitude won the admiration of their captors. 
Whatever may be saiei of Spanish marksmanship, there is no discount on 
Sjianish courage. After a short detention Cervera and his captured sailors 
were sent north to New Hampshire and thence to Annapolis, where they were 
held until released by order of President McKinley, August 31st. 

THRE.VrENED BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO AND FLIGHT OF THE REFUGEES. 

On July the 3d, while the great naval duel was in progress upon the sea, 
General Shafter demanded the surrender of Santiago upon pain of bombard- 
ment. The demand was refused by General Toral, who commanded the forces 
after the wounding of General Linares. General Shafter stated that he would 
postpone the bombardment until noon of July 3th to allow foreigners and non- 
combatants to get out of the city, and he urged General Toral in the name of 
humanity to use his influence and aid to facilitate the rapid departure of un- 
armed citizens and foreigners. Accordingly late in the afternoon of July 4th 
General Toral posted notices upon the walls of Santiago advising all women, 
children, and non-combatants that between five and nine o'clock on the morning 
of the 5th diey might pass out by any gate of the city, all pilgrims going on 
foot, no carriages being allowed, and stating that stretchers would be provided 
lor the crippled. 

Promptly at hve o'clock on the following morning a great line of pilgrims 



370 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

wound out of Santiago. It was no rabble, but well-behaved crowds of men and 
women, with great droves of children. About four hundred persons were 
carried out on litters. Many of the poorer women wore large crucifixes and 
some entered El Caney telling their beads. But there were many not so fortu- 
nate as to reach the city. Along the highroads in all directions thousands of 
families squatted entirely without food or shelter, and many deaths .occurred 
among them. The Red Cross Society did much to relieve the suffering, but it 
lacked means of transporting supplies to the front. 

While the Hag of truce was still flying on the morning of July 6th a com- 
munication was received from General Toral requesting that the time of 
truce be further extended, as he wanted to communicate again with the Span- 
ish Government at Madrid concerning the surrender ot the city, and, further, that 
the cable operators, who were Englishmen and had fled to El Caney with the 
refugees, be returned to the city that he might do so. General Shafter extended 
the truce until four o'clock on Sunday, July loth, and the operators returned 
from El Caney to work the wires for General Toral. During all this time the 
refugees continued to throng the roads to Siboney and El Caney, until 20,000 
fugitives were congregated at the two points. It is a disgraceful fact, however, 
that while this truce was granted at the request of the Spanish General, it was 
taken advantage of by the troops under him to loot the city. Both Cuban and 
Spanish families suffered from their rapacity. 

THE LAST B.VFTLE AND THE SURRENDER OF THE CITY. 

On July 8th and loth the two expeditions of General Miles arrived, 
reinforcing General Shafter's army with over 6,000 men. General Toral was 
acquainted with the fact of their presence, and General Miles urgently im- 
pressed upon him that further resistance could but result in a useless loss of 
life. The Spanish commander replied that he had not received permission to 
surrender, and ii the Americans would not wait longer he could only obey orders 
of his government, and that he and his men would die fighting. Accordingly a 
joint bombardment by the army and navy was begun. The artillery reply of 
the Spaniards was feeble and spiritless, though our attack on the city was chiefly 
with artillery. They seemed to depend most upon their small arms, and returned 
the volleys fired from the trenches vigorously. Our lines were elaborately pro- 
tected with over 22,000 sand-bags, while the Spaniards were protected with 
bamboo poles filled with earth. In this engagement the dynamite gun of the 
Rough Riders did excellent service, striking the enemy's trenches and blowing 
field-pieces into the air. The bombardment continued until the afternoon of the 
second day, when a flag of truce was displayed over the city. It was thought 
that General Toral was about to surrender, but instead he only asked more time. 

On the advice of General Miles, General Shafter consented to another 



THE SPAXISII-AMERICAN WAR. 



11^ 



truce, and, at last, on July 14th, after an interview with Generals Miles and 
Shaftcr, in which he agreed to give up the city on condition that the army would 
be returned to Spain at the expense of America, General Toral surrendered. 
On July 1 6th the agreement, with the formal approval of the Madrid and Wash- 
ington Governments, was signed in duplicate by the commissioners, each side 
retaining a copy. This event was accepted throughout the world as marking 
the end of the Spanish-American War. 

The conditions of the surrender involved the following points: 
'• (i) The 20,000 refugees at El Caney and Siboney to be sent back to the 
city. (2) An American infantry patrol 
to be posted on the roads surround- 
ing the city and in the country between 
it and the American cavalry. (3) Our 
hospital corps to give attention, as far 
as possible, to the sick and wounded 
Spanish soldiers in Santiago. (4) All 
the Spanish troops in the province, 
except ten thousand men at Holguin, 
under command of General Luque, to 
come into the city and surrender. 
(5) The guns and defenses of the city 
to be turned over to the Americans in 
good condition. (6) The Americans 
to have full use of the Juragua Rail- 
road, which belongs to the Spanish 
Government. (7) The Spaniards to 
surrender their arms. (8) All the 
Spaniards to be conveyed to Spain on 
board of American transports with the 
least possible delay, and be permitted 
to take portable church property with 
them." 

TAKING POSSESSION OF SANTIAGO AND RAISING THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

The formality of taking possession of the city yet remained to be done. 
To that end, immediately after the signing of the agreement by the commis- 
sioners. General Shafter notified General Toral that he would formally receive 
his surrender of the city the next day, Sunday, July 17th, at nine o'clock in the 
morning. Accordingly at about 8.30 A. M., Sunday, General Shafter, accom- 
panied by the commander of the American army, General Nelson A. Miles, 
Generals Wheeler and Lawton, and several officers, walked slowly down the 




MAJOR-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. 



hill to the road leading to Santiago. 



Under the great mango tree which had 



372 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

witnessed ail the negotiations, General Toral, in full uniform, accompanied by 
200 Spanish officers, met the Americans. After a little ceremony in military 
mancKuvring, the two commanding generals faced each other, and General 
Toral, speaking in Spanish, said: 

"Through fate I am forced to surrender to General Shafter of the American 
army the city and the strongholds of the city of Santiago." 

General Toral's voice trembled with emotion as he spoke the words giving 
up the town to his victorious enemy. As he finished speaking the Spanish offi- 
cers presented arms. 

General Shafter, in reply, said : 

"I receive the city in the name of the Government of the United States." 

The officers of the Spanish General then wheeled about, presenting arms, 
and General Shafter, with the American officers, cavalry, and infantry chosen for 
the occasion, passed into the city and on to the governor's palace, where a crowd 
numbering 3,000 persons had gathered. As the great bell in the tower of the 
cathedral nearby gave the first stroke of twelve o'clock the American flae was 
run up from the flagpole on the palace, and as it floated to the breeze all hats 
were removed by the spectators, while the soldiers presented arms. As the 
cathedral bell tolled the last stroke of the hour the military band began to play 
"The Star-Sprangled Banner," which was followed by "Three Cheers for the 
Red, White, and Blue." The cheering of the soldiers w-as joined by more than 
half of the people, who seemed greatly pleased and yelled " Viva los Amer- 
icanos." The soldiers along almost the whole of the American line could see 
and had watched with alternating silence and cheers the entire proceeding. 

GENERAL SHAFTEK's ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE VICTORY. 

Having assigned soldiers to patrol and preserve order within the city. 
General Shafter and his staff returned to their quarters at camp, and the victor- 
ious commander, who two weeks before was almost disheartened, sent a dispatch 
announcing the formal surrender of Santiago. It was the first dispatch of the 
kind received at Washington from a foreign country for more than fifty years. 
The lollowing extract from General Shafter's telegram sums up the situation: 

"I have the honor to announce that the American flag has been this instant, 
12 noon, hoisted over the house of the civil government in the city of Santiago. 
An immense concourse of people was present, a squadron of cavalry and a regi- 
ment of infantry presenting arms, and a band playing national airs. A light 
battery fired a salute of twenty-one guns. 

"Perfect order is being maintained by the munrcipal government, The 
distress is very grea^ but there is little sickness in town and scarcely any yellow 
fever. 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



m 



"A small gunboat and about 200 seamen left by Cervera have surrendered 
to me. Obstructions are being removed from the mouth ot the harbor. 

" Upon coming into the city I discovered a perlect entanglement of defenses. 
Fighting as the Spaniards did the first day, it would have cost five thousand lives 
to have taken it. 

"Battalions of Spanish troops have been depositing arms since daylight in 
the armory, over which I have a guard. General Toral formally surrendered 
the plaza and all stores at 9 A. M. About •',000 rifles, 600,000 cartridges, and 
many fine modern guns were given up. 

"This important victory, with its 
substantial fruits of conquest, was won 
by a loss of 1,593 ""'^'^ killed, woundrd, 
and missing. Lawton, who had the 
severe fighting around Kl Caney, lost 
410 men. Kent lost 859 men in the 
still more severe assault on San Juan 
and the other conflicts of the centre. 
The cavalry lost 28 5 men, many of 
whom fell at El Caney, and the feint 
at Aguadores cost thirty-seven men. 
One man of the Signal Corps was 
killed and one wounded. Trying as it 
is to bear the casualties of the first 
fight, there can be no doubt that in a 
military sense our success was not 
dearly won." 

Thus within less than thirty da\-s 
from the time Shafter's army landed 
upon Cuban soil he had received the 
surrender not only of the city of San- 
tiago, but nearly the whole of the province of that name — or about one-tenth of 
the entire island. 

THE WAR IN PORTO RICO. 

It was General Miles' original plan after establishing a blockade of Cuban 
ports to open the war in Porto Rico, and make no general invasion of Cuba 
during the sickly season, but the enclosure of Cervera's fleet in tlie harbor of 
Santiago changed the conditions and made it necessary to move a military force 
to that point, bet'ore going elsewhere. 

Now that Santiago had surrendered, according to the original plan of 
General Miles, the attention of the army and navy was again turned to Porto 
Rico, and the work of fitting out expeditions to that island was begun at once, 




MAJOR-GENERAL -WESLEY MEEEITT. 



374 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

There were three expeditions sent. The first under General Miles sailed from 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 21st; the second under General Ernst on the same 
day sailed from Charleston, S. C. ; the third under General Brooke embarked at 
Newport News on July 26th. All of these expeditions, aggregating about 11,000 
men, were convoyed by warships, and successfully landed. The first under 
General Miles reached Guanica at daylight on July 25th, where a Spanish force 
attempted to resist their landing, but a few well-directed shells from the Jlfassa- 
chusctts, Gloucester, and Colu7>ibia soon put the enemy to flight. A party 
then went ashore and pulled down the Spanish flag from the blockhouse — 
the first trophy of war from Porto Rican soil. As the troops began to land the 
Spaniards opened fire upon them. The Americans replied with their rifles 
and machine guns, and the ships also shelled the enemy from the harbor. Five 
dead Spaniards were found after the firing had ceased. Not an American was 
touched. 

Before nightfall all the troops were landed. The next day General Miles 
marched toward Ponce. Four men were wounded in a skirmish at Yauco on the 
way, but at Ponce, where General Ernst's expedition from Charleston met them 
and disembarked on July 2Sth, the Spaniards fled on the approach of the 
Americans, whom the mayor of the city and the people welcomed with joy, 
making many demonstrations in their honor and offering their services to hunt 
and fight the Spaniards. General Miles issued a proclamation to the people 
declaring clearly the United States' purpose of annexing them. The mayor of 
Ponce published this proclamation, with an appeal from himself to the people to 
salute and hail the American flag as their own, and to welcome and aid the 
American soldiers as their deliverers and brothers. 

On August 4th General Brooke arrived, and the fleet Commander, Cap- 
tain Hicjginson, with little resistance opened the port of Arroyo, where they were 
successfully landed the next day, and General Haines' brigade captured the place 
with a few prisoners. 

The Americans were then in possession of all the principal ports on the 
south coast, covering between fifty and sixty miles of that shore. A forward 
movement was inaugurated in three divisions — all of which we will consider 
together — the object of General Miles being to occupy the island and drive the 
Spanish forces before him into San Juan, and by the aid of the fleet capture 
them there in a body, though the Spanish forces numbered 8,000 regulars and 
9,000 volunteers, against which were the 11,000 land forces of the Americans 
and also their fleet. 

The town of Coamo was captured August 9th after half an hour of fight- 
ing by Generals Ernst and Wilson, the Americans driving the Spaniards from 
their trenches and sustaining a loss of six wounded. On the loth General 
Schwan encountered 1,000 Spaniards at Rosario River. This was the most 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 375 

severe eroraorement in Porto Rico. The Spaniards were routed, witli what loss 
is unknown. The Americans had two killed and sixteen wounded. 

On the iith General Wilson moved on to Abonito and found the enemy 
strongly intrencl:ed in the mountain fastnesses along the road. He ventured 
an attack with artillery, sustaining a loss of one man killed and four wounded. 
On pain of another attack he sent a messenger demanding the surrender of the 
town of Abonito ; but the soldierly answer was sent back: "Tell General 
Wilson to stay where he is if he wishes to avoid the shedding ol much blood." 
General Wilson concluded to delay until General Brooke could come up before 
making the assault, and, while thus waiting, the news of peace arrived. 

Meantime General Brooke had been operating around Guayama, where he 
had five men wounded. At three o'clock, August 12th, the battle was just 
opening in good order, and a great fight was anticipated. The gunners were 
sighting their tirst pieces when one of the signal corps galloped up with the 
telegram announcing ^ri^rt'. "You came just fifteen minutes too soon. The 
troops will be disappointed," said General Brooke, and they were. 

So ended the well-planned campaign of Porto Rico, in which General Miles 
had arranged, by a masterly operation with 11,000 men, the occupation of an 
island loS miles long by thirty-seven broad. As it was, he had already occu- 
pied about one-third of the island with a loss of only three killed and twenty- 
eight wounded, against a preponderating force of 17,000 Spaniards. 

After the signing of the protocol of peace General Brooke was left in 
charge of about half the forces in Porto Rico, pending a final [leace, while Gen- 
eral Miles with the other half returned to the United States, where he arrived 
early in September and was received with fitting ovations in New York, Phila- 
delphia, and Washington, at which latter city he again took up his quarters as 
the Commander of the American Army. 

THE CONQUEST OF THE riilLIPriNES. 

After Dewey's victory at Manila, already referred to, it became evident that 
he must have the co-operation of an army in capturing and controlling the city. 
The insurgents under General Aguinaldo appeared an.xious to assist Admiral 
Dewey, but it was feared that he could not control them. Accordingly, the bio 
monitor Monterey was started for Manila and orders were given for the imme- 
diate outfitting of expeditions from San Francisco under command of Major- 
General Wesley Merritt. The first expedition consisted of between 2,500 and 
3,000 troops commanded by Brigadier-General Anderson, carried on three ships, 
the Charleston, the City of Pekin, and the City of Sydney. This was the longest 
expedition (about 6,000 miles) on which American troops were ever sent, and 
the men carried supplies to last a year. The CJiarlcston got away on the 2 2d, 
and the other two vessels followed three days later. The expedition went 



376 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



throucrh safely, arriving at Manila July ist. The Charleston had stopped on 
June 2 1 St at the Ladrone Islands and captured the island of Guam without 
resistance. The soldiers of the garrison were taken on as prisoners to Manila 
and a garrison of American soldiers left in charge, with the stars and stripes 
waving over the fortifications. 

The second expedition of 3,500 men sailed June 15th under General Greene, 
who used the steamer China as his flagship. This expedition landed July i6th 

at Cavite in the midst of considera- 
ble excitement on account of the 
aggressive movements of the insur- 
gents and the daily encounters and 
skirmishes between them and the 
Spanish forces. 

On June 23d the monitor AIo- 
nadnoc sailed to further reinforce 
Admiral Dewey, and four days later 
the third expedition of 4,000 troops 
under General McArthur passed out 
of the Golden Gate amid the cheers 
of the multitude, as the others had 
done ; and on the 29th General Mer- 
ritt followed on the Newport. Nearly 
one month later, July 23d, General 
H. G. Otis, with 900 men, sailed on 
the City of Rio de yaneiro from San 
Francisco, thus making a total of 
nearly 12,000 men, all told, sent to 
the Philippine Islands. 

General Merritt arrived at Ca- 
vite July 25th, and on July 29th the 
American forces advanced from Ca- 
vite toward Manila. On the 31st, 
while enroute, they were attacked at Malate by 3,000 Spaniards, whom they 
repulsed, but sustained a loss of nine men killed and forty-seven wounded, 
nine of them seriously. This was the first loss of life on the part of the 
Americans in action in the Philippines. The Spanish casualties were much 
heavier. On the same day General McArthur's reinforcements arrived at 
Cavite, and several days were devoted to preparations for a combined land and 
naval attack. 

On August 7th Admiral Dewey and General Merritt demanded the sur- 
render of the city witliin forty-eight hours, and foreign warships took their 




MAP OF PHILIPPINE; ISLANDS. 




AMERICANS STORMING SAN JUAN HILL 
The most ilrainatie mjcuh aiid ibe iiiusi <iiaLrucli vu baUtf ul" ihf >|iaiijflh VS ii 



THE SPAN IS If- AMERICAN WAR. 377 

respective subjects on board for protection. On August 9th the Spaniards 
asked more time to hear from Madrid, but tliis was refused, and on the 13th a 
final demand was made for immediate surrender, wliich Governor-General 
Augusti refused and embarked with his family on board a German man-of-war, 
which sailed with him for Hong Kong. 

At 9.30 o'clock the bombardment began with fury, all of the vessels send- 
ing hot sliot at tlie doomed city. 

In tlie midst of the bombardment by the fleet American soldiers under 
Generals McArthur and Greene were ordered to storm the Spanish trenches 
which extended ten miles around the city. The soldiers rose cheering and dashed 
lor the Spanish earthworks. A deadly fire met them, but the men rushed on 
and swept the enemy from their outer defences, forcing them to their inner 
trenches. A second charge was made upon these, and the Spaniards retreated 
into the walled city, where they promptly sent up a white flag. The ships at 
once ceased firing, and the victorious Americans entered the city after si.x hours' 
fighting. General Merritt took command as military governor. The Spanish 
forces numbered 7,000 and the Americans 10,000 men. The loss to the Amer- 
icans was about fifty killed, wounded, and missing, which was very small under 
the circumstances. 

In the meantime the insurgents had formed a government with Aguinaldo 
as president. They declared themselves most triendly to American occupation 
of the islands, with a view to aiding them to establish an independent govern- 
ment, which they hoped would be granted to them. On September 15th they 
opened their republican congress at Malolos, and President Aguinaldo 
made the opening address, expressing warm appreciation of Americans and 
indulging the hope that they meant to establish the independence of the 
islands. On September 1 6th, however, in obedience to the command of Gen- 
eral Otis, they withdrew their forces from the vicinity of Manila. 

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS AND THE PROTOCOL. 

Precisely how to open the negotiations for peace was a delicate and difficult 
question. Its solution, however, proved easy enough when the attempt was 
made. During the latter part of July the Spanish Government, through M. 
Jules Cambon, the French Ambassador at Washington, submitted a note, asking 
the United States Government for a statement of the ground on which it would 
be willing to cease hostilities and arrange for a peaceable setdement. Accord- 
ingly, on July 30th, a statement, embodying President McKinley's views, was 
transmitted to Spain, and on August 2d Spain virtually accepted the terms by 
cable. On August 9th Spain's formal reply was presented by M. Cambon, and 
on the next day he and Secretary Day agreed upon terms of a protocol, to be 
sent to Spain for her approval. Two days later, the 12th inst., the French 



.1/ 



S THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



Ambassador was authorized to sign the protocol for Spain, and the signatures 
were affixed the same afternoon at the White House (M. Cambon signing for 
Spain and Secretary Day for the United States), in the presence of President 
McKinley and the chief assistants of the Department of State. The six main 
points covered by the protocol were as follows : 

" I. That Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to 
Cuba. 

" 2. That Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and an 
island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to 
the latter. 

" 3. That the United States will occupy and hold the city, bay, and harbor 
of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the 
control, disposition, and government ot the Philippines. 

" 4. That Cuba, Porto Rico, and other Spanish islands in the West Indies 
shall be immediately evacuated, and that commissioners, to be appointed within 
ten days, shall, within thirty days from the signing of the protocol, meet at 
Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the 
evacuation. 

" 5. That the United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five 
commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace. The commissioners 
are to meet at Paris not later than October ist. 

"6. On the signing of the protocol, hostilities will be suspended and notice 
to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each Government to the com- 
manders of its military and naval forces." 

On the very same afternoon President McKinley issued a proclamation 
announcing on the part of the United States a suspension of hostilities, and over 
the wires the word went rineine throughout the length and breadth of the land 
and under the ocean that peace was restored. The cable from Hong Kong to 
Manila, however, had not been repaired for use since Dewey had cut it in May; 
consequently it was several days before tidings could reach General Merritt and 
Admiral Dewey ; and meantime the battle of Manila, which occurred on the 13th, 
was fought. 

On August 17th President McKinley named commissioners to adjust the 
Spanish evacuation of Cuba and Porto Rico, in accordance with the terms of the 
protocol. Rear Admiral Wm. T. Sampson, Senator Matthew C. Butler, and Major- 
General James F. Wade were appointed for Cuba, and Rear Admiral W. S. 
Schley, Brigadier-General Wm. W. Gordon, and Major-General John R. 
Brooke for Porto Rico. In due time Spain announced her commissioners, and, 
as agreed, they met in September and the arrangements for evacuation were 
speedily completed and carried out. 

President McKinley appointed as the National Peace Commission, Secre- 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



379 



tary of State Wm. R. Day, Senator Cushnian K. Davis of Minnesota, Senator 
Wm. P. Frye of Maine, Senator George Gray of Maryland, and Mr. White- 
law Reid of New York. Secretary Day resigned his State portfolio Sep- 
tember 1 6th, in which he was succeeded by Colonel John Hay, former Am- 
bassador to England. With ex-Secretary Day at their head the Americans 
sailed from New York, September 17th, met the Spanish Commissioners ar 
Paris, France, as agreed, and arranged 
the details of the final peace between 
the two nations. Thus ended the Span- 
ish-American War. 

HOME-COMING OF OUR SOLDIERS. 

After Spain's virtual acceptance of 
the terms of peace contained in Presi- 
dent McKinley's note of July 30th, it 
was deemed unnecessary to keep all 
the forces unoccupied in the fever dis- 
tricts of Cuba and the unsanitary 
camps ot our own country; conse- 
quently the next day after receipt of 
Spain's message of August 2d, on 
August ^d, the home-cominof was in- 
augurated by ordering all cavalry 
under General Shafter at Santiago to 
be transported to Montauk Point, 
Long Island, and on the 6th inst. trans- 
ports sailed bearing those who were 
to come north. These were followed 
rapidly by others from Santiago, and 

later by about half the forces from Porto Rico under General Miles, and others 
from the various camps, so that by the end of September, 1898, nearly half of 
the great army of 268,000 men had been mustered out of service or sent home 
on furlough. 

It is a matter of universal regret that so many of our brave volunteers died 
of neglect in camps and on transports, and that fever, malaria, and exposure 
carried several times the number to their graves as were sent there by Spanish 
bullets. Severe criticisms have been lodged against the War Department for 
both lack of efficiency and neglect in caring for the comfort, health, and life of 
those who went forward at their country's call. 

However, it must be remembered that the War Department undertook and 
accomplished a herculean task, and it could not be expected, starting with a 




EX-SECRETAHT OF STATE WM. H. DAY, 
Head of Peace Commission to Paris. 



3So THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

regular force of less than 30,000 men, that an army of a quarter of a million 
could be built up out of volunteers who had to be collected, trained, clothed, 
equipped and provisioned, and a war waged and won on two sides of the globe, 
in a little over three months, without much suffering and many mistakes. 

TERRITORY CONQUERED FOR WHICH WE ARE TO PROVIDE GOVERNMENT. 

With the conquest of Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands a new 
era has dawned in the history of our country. The United States must now 
take iheir place among the first nations of the world, and stand with Kngland, 
it not as a colonizer, at least as a civilizer ; and whatever else this war with 
Spain may do for us, it is boimd to open up new avenues of trade in her colo- 
nies in the East and West Indies. Tiie islands of Cuba and Porto Rico on the 
eastern coast, and the Piiilippines, Carolines and Ladrones, together with our 
newly acquired Hawaiian possessions on the west, furnish fields for marvelous 
developments and unique trade opportunities. All of these islands lie in the 
tropics where heretofore not an acre of our country has extended. E.xpert 
observers of commerce declare that "the natural avenues of trade are not with 
the sun along parallel lines of latitude, but north and south between zones of 
differing climates." Hence, these island groups are most favorably located. 
Thev can send us the fruits of the tropics, which our temperate climate pro- 
duces too sparingly or not at all, and receive in return our grain and manufac- 
ture.s — an exchange mutually desirable and useful. Thus there is scarcely a pro- 
duct in the world that could not be raised within our enlarged borders. 

The territory of which we have acquired control is equal to nine good 
States. Cuba, 800 miles long and from 30 to 125 miles wide, with an area about 
equal to that of the State of Ohio, and a population estimated before the war at 
1,750,000, lies within a few hours of our Florida coast. Porto Rico, the gate- 
way of the West Indies, and easily reached from the great harbors of the 
Atlantic, is equal in size to Long Island and has 800,000 inhabitants. In the 
Pacific, in line with our rapidly expanding trade with Japan. China, and Australia, 
lie the 2,000 Philippine and other Spanish islands. The island of Luzon alone, 
which we keep directly by our peace with Spain, has over 4,000.000 inhabi- 
tants, contains 57,505 square miles, equal in size to the States of New York 
and Massachusetts combined, and upon this island stands the city of Manila. 
With the other Spanish islands of the Philippine group we enjoy superior 
trade facilities, without the burden of directly administering their affairs. 
Here, then, are Cuba and Porto Rico in tlie Atlantic and the Hawaiian and 
Philippine groups in the Pacific, whose destiny has become closely intertwined 
with our own. Their combined area is 1 68, 000 square miles, equaling New 
England, New York, Penns)lvania, and New Jersey. Their combined popula- 
tion is about 10,000,000, or perhaps one-half that of the nine home States men- 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 3,Si 

tioned, and amono- all this vast number of people there are very few manufac- 
tures of any kind to be found. Thus this war has opened an avenue for Amer- 
ican products destined to give such an impetus to American manufacturing as 
our country has never enjoyed. Cuba which, in 1902, took so happily her 
place as a new free Republic, is and must be closely connected with our country 
in all industrial and commercial enterprises and become a market for our 
products. 

THE TREATY OF PEACE. 

December 10, 1898, was one of the most eventful days in the past decade 
— onct fraught with great interest to the world, and involving the destiny of more 
than 10,000,000 of people. At nine o'clock on the evening of that day the 
commissioners of the United States and those of Spain met for the last time, 
after about eleven weeks of deliberation, in the magnificent apartments of the 
foreign ministry at the French capital, and signed the Treaty of Peace, which 
finally marketl the end of the Spanish-American War. 

This treaty transformed the political geography of the world by establish- 
ing the United .States' authority in both hemisphere.s, and also in the tropics, 
where it had never before e.xtendecl. It, furthermore, brought under our 
dominion and obligated us for the government of strange and widely isolated 
peoples, who have little or no knowledge of liberty and government as measured 
by the .\merican standards. In this new assumption of responsibility America 
essayed a difficult problem, the solving of which involved results that could not 
fail to influence the destiny of our nation and the future history of the whole 
world. 

On January 3, 1899, the Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State, delivered the 
Treaty of Peace to President McKinley, who, on January 4th, forwarded the 
same to the Senate of the United States with a view to its ratification. Below 
will be found the complete text of the treaty as submitted by the President. 

The Queen Regent of Spain signed the ratification of the Treaty of Peace 
on March 17, 1899, and the final act took place on the afternoon of April i ith, 
when copies of the final protocol were exchanged at Washington by President 
McKinley and the French ambassador, M. Cambon, representing Spain. ^ The 
President immediately issued a proclamation of peace, and thus the .Spanish- 
American War came to an ofificial end. A few weeks later the sum of 
$20,000,000 was paid to Spain, in accordance with the treaty, as partial com- 
pensation for the surrender of her rights in the Philippines, and diplomatic 
relations between the Latin kingdom and the United .States were resumed. 

The treaty with Spain was finally consummated on July 3, 1899, on which 
day it was ratified by the Spanish Cortes. 

24 






wi^^l'-i 




tT-Ji 






Ju 



' or 



1/ 

i 






I--,- J 



■■;'»< 



I 






-1/ 







u 

z 
< 
S 



I 



H 
I- 
4 

m 

I 
I- 



o 

u 

5 

o 

z 

o 

I 

U) 

oc 
o 
m 

< 
I 

o 

z 

< 
z 

4 
> 
4 
X 



> 
I- 



r. 



H.* 



The United States Becomes a World Power. 

The New Century Brings New Problems of 
Colonization and Foreign Co=operation. 

On the last day of 1898 the Spanish troops were withdrawn from Havana, 
and on the first day of 1899 the stars and stripes proudly floated over that 
queen city of the American tropics. But this was only for a time. The United 
States was pledged to give freedom to Cuba, and no man in authority thought 
of breaking this pledge, for the honor of the country was involved. 

In the summer of 1900 tlie Cuban people were asked to hold a convention 
and form a Constitution, with the single j^i'oviso that it should contain no clauses 
favoring Euro])ean aggression or inimical to American interests. This done, 
American troops and officials would be withdrawn and Cuba be given over to 
the Cubans. 

The occupation of Porto Rico, on the contrary, was permanent. It had 
been fully ceded to the United States, and stejis were taken to make it a constitu- 
ent part of that country. But the period of transition from Spanish to 
American i-ule was not favorable to the interests of the people, who suffered 
severely, their business being wrecked by tariff discrimination. Action by 
Congress was demaiuled, and a bill was passeil greatly reducing the tariff in 
Porto Rico, but not giving free trade with the United States, though many held 
that this was the Constitutional right of the islanders. Under this new tariff 
business was resumed, and the lost prosperity of the island was gradually 
restored. 

The occupation of our new possessions in the Pacific presented serious diffi- 
culties. This was not the case with Hawaii, which fell peacefully under its 
new rule, and in 1900 was made a Territory of the United States. With the 
Philippine Islands the case was different. There hostility to American rule 

383 



384 



THE UNITED STATES HECOMKS A WOnil) POWER. 



soon showed itself, and eventually an insurrection began, leading to a war, 
which proved far more protracted and sanguinary than that with Hpain. 

DEWEY RETURNS HOME. 

Shortly after these troubles began Admiral Dewej^ received a well-merited 
reward. On the 3d of March, 18i:)l», he was ])romoted by President McKinley 
and the Senate from the rank of rear-admiral to that of full admiral, a grade 
of high honor which only two Americans, Farragut and Porter, had borne 
before liim. A¥orn out with his labors, this distinguished officer soon after set 
out for home. His journey was a 
leisurely one, and he was the recip- 
ient of the higlu'st honors at every 
stopping-place on his route. On 
reaching his own country he found 
himself a great popular hero, and was 
everywhere greeted with enthusiastic 
applause. His reception at New York 
was one of the striking events of the 
century, and as a lasting testimonial 
of appreciation and esteem his grate- 
ful countrymen purchased him a lieau- 
iiful residence in Washington. Hei'e, 
taking to himself a, wife, the Admiral 
settled down to peace and domestic 
comfort after his stormy career. 

THE PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION. 

Dewey left the Philippines in a 
state of convulsion. On the 30th of 
December, 1<S;>8, President McKiidey 
had issued a proclamation offering 
the natives, under American suprem- 
acy, a considerable measure of home rule, including a voice in local government, 
the right to hold office, a fair judiciary, and freedom of speech and of the press. 
These concessions were not satisfoctory to Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader in the 
late insurrection against Spain, who demanded independence for the islands. 
He claimed that Dewey had promised it to him in return for his aid in the 
capture of IManila — a claim which Dewey positively denied. 

General Elwell S. Otis, who had succeeded General Merritt as military 




MAJOR-GENERAL ELWELL S. OTIS. 



ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY. 385 

governor of the islands, found himself plunged into the midst of an active war. 
The difficulty with which General Otis had to contend was one in which the 
navy was not specially concernetl, it being almost wholly a military atiair. It 
had its origin in a variety of causes, beginning with the irritation of the Fil- 
ipino forces in not being permitted to enter Manila after its captuix — presuma- 
bly with the purpose of loot and outrage. This irritation was added to by 
growing relations of hostility between the American and the Philippine forces. 
Little was done to adjust this trouble, and the hostile attitude of the Fili- 
pinos steadily increased. Not until after lighting had actually begun was an 
effort at an amicable settlement made, and in this Dewey took part. 

Before his return he had served on a commission, organized with the hope 
of reaching a peaceful end of the ditHculties. The other members of the 
commission were General Otis, Jacob G. Shurman, President of (Jornell Univer- 
sity, Professor Dean Worcester, and Charles Denby, late Minister to China. 
The commission began its work on April 4, 1899, by issuing a proclamation to 
the Philippine people, offering them, under the supremacy of the United States, 
an abundant measure of civil rights, honest administration, reform of abuses, 
and development of the resoui-ces of the country. This proclamation fell still- 
born, so far as the insurgent forces were concerned, Aguinaldo issuing counter 
proclamations and calling on the people to fight for complete indejiendence. It 
was evident that the settlement of the affair would depend on the rifle and the 
sword rather than on paper j^roclamations and promises. 

THE INSURRECTION IN LUZON. 

On the 30tli of December, 1898, President McKinley had issued a proc- 
lamation to the Philippine people, in which he offered them a large mea.sure of 
local self-government, the right to hold office, a fair judiciary and freedom of 
speech and of the press. These concessions were not satisfactory to their leaders, 
and in January, 1899, a conference was held with General Otis in which the 
Pliilippine spokesman demanded a greater degree of self-government than he 
had authority to grant. As the debate in the Senate upon the treaty of 
peace with Spain approached its termination, and promised to end in the ratifi- 
cation of the treaty and the cession of the islands to the United States, the rest- 
lessness and hostility of the natives increased, and on the night of February 
4th the threatened outbreak came, in a fierce attack on the American outposts 
at Manila. A severe battle ensued, continuing for two days, and ending in 
the defeat of the natives, who had suffered severely and were driven back for 
miles l)eyond the city limits. 

Meanwhile a republic had been proclaimed by the Philippine leaders, 



386 THE UNITED STATES BECOMES A WORLD POWER. 

A<^uinaldo being chosen president and commander-in-chief of the native armies. 
He immediately issued a declaration of war, and both sides prepared for active 
hostilities. The first step taken by the Filipinos was a desperate one — an 
attempt at wholesale arson. On the night of February 22d the city of Manila 
was set on fire at several points, and the soldiers and firemen who sought to 
extinguish the flames were fired upon from many of the houses. The result was 
not serious except to the natives themselves, since the conflagration was in great 
part confined to their quarter of the city. General Otis took vigilant precau- 
tions to prevent the recurrence of such an attempt, and from that time forward 
Manila, though full of secret hostiles, was safe from the peril of incendiarism. 

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1899. 

Tlie American forces, being strengthened with reinforcements, began their 
advance on March 25th. They met with sharp resistance, the Filipinos having 
thrown up earthworks at every defensible point, and being well armed with 
Mauser rifles. But they nowhere seemed able to sustain the vigorous onsets of 
the Americans, who did not hesitate to charge their works and swim wide rivers 
in foce of their fire, and they were driven back from a long succession of forti- 
fied places. On March 31st Malolos, the capital of Aguinaldo, was occupied. 
C'alumpit, another Philippine stronghold, was taken near the end of April. 
General Lawton, an old Indian fighter, who had recently reached the islands, 
led an expedition northward through the foothills and captured San Isidro, the 
second insurgent capital. Various other places were taken, and at the beginning 
of July, when the coming on of the rainy season put an end to active operations, 
a laro'e and populous district to the north and west of Manila was in American 

hands. 

By this time it had become evident that a larger army was needed to com- 
plete the task, and reinforcements were now hurried across the ocean. With them 
was sent a considerable body of cavalry, the lack of which had seriously handi- 
capped the troops in the spring campaign. Fighting was resumed in raid- 
autumn, and Aguinaldo's new capital of Tarlac quickly fell. The insurgents 
seemed to have "lost heart from their reverses in the spring, and defended them- 
selves with less courage and persistence, the result being that by the 1st of 
December the Americans were masters of the whole line of the Manila- 
Dagupan Railway and the broad plain through which it ran, and the Filipinos 
were in full flight for the mountains, hotly pursued by Lawton and Young, 
with their cavalry and scouts. 

From that time forward there was no Filipino army, pro])erly so-called^ 
Aguinaldo's forces being broken up into fugitive bauds, capable only of guerilla 



ADMINISTRATION OF McKINLEY. 387 

warfare. The American troops traversed the island from end to end, having 
frequent collisions with small parties of the enemy, in one of which, unfortu- 
nately, the gallant LaAvton was shot dead. Many of the insurgent leaders were 
captured or surrendered, but Aguinaldo continued at large, and the hope of a 
final end of the war came to depend largely upon the event of his capture. 

In November the Philippine Commission made its report to the government, 
and a system which was thought to be well adapted to the situation was formu- 
lated at Washington. This declared that the people of the Philippines, while 
many of them were intelligent and capable, had no experience in self-govern- 
ment, and that it was necessary for the United States to retain a firm political 
control, while giving them such share in the government as they were fitted to 
exercise, increasing this as they gained political training. In accordance with 
this policy, local governments were established in those localities which had 
become pacified, and with very promising effect. By the summer of 1000 the 
resistance to American domination had so much decreased that President 
McKinley issued a proclamation of amnesty, with the hope that the natives still 
in arms would take advantage of the opportunity to cease their desultory 
resistance. 

THE SITUATION IN CHINA. 

While this was going on in the Philippines a disturbed condition of affairs 
suddenly developed in a new quarter, the ancient and populous empire of China. 
It is necessary to go a step backwards to trace the course of events leading to this 
unlooked-for situation. The whole intercourse of European nations with China 
had been of a character to create indignation and hatred of foreigners in the 
populace of that country. The Japano-Chinese war increased this feeling, while 
demonstrating the incapacity of the Chinese to cope in war with modern nations. 
In the years that followed, the best statesmen of China vividly realized the 
defects of their system, and recognized that a radical reform was necessary to 
save the nation from a total collapse. The nations of Europe were seizing the 
best ports of the empire and threatening to divide the whole country between 
them, a peril which it needed vigorous measures to avert. 

The result was an effort to modernize the administration. Railroads had 
long been practically forbidden, but now concessions for the building of hundreds 
of miles of road were granted. Modern implements of war were purchased in 
great quantities, and the European drill and discipline were introduced into the 
imperial army. The young emperor became strongly imbued with the spirit of 
reform, and ordered radical changes in the administration of affairs. In short, 
a promising beginning was made in the modernization of the ancient empire. 



388 THE UNITED STATES BECOMES A WORLD POWER. 

A movement of this kind in a country so rigidly conservative as China 
could scarcely tail to produce a revulsion. The party of ancient prejudice and 
conservative sentiment — a party comprising the bulk of the nation — took the 
alarm. The empress-dowager, who had recently laid down the reins of govern- 
ment as regent, took them up again, under the support of the conservative 
leaders, seized and held in palace seclusion the emperor, put to death his 
advisers, and restored the old methods of administration. 

THE BOXER OUTBREAK. 

This revolution in the palace soon made itself felt in the hovel. A secret 
society of the common people, known as "The Boxers," rose in arms, made a 
murderous onslaught upon the missionaries, who were widely domiciled within 
the realm, and soon appeared in the capital. Here, aided by many of the soldiers, 
and led by men high in rank in the anti-foreign party, they made a virulent 
assault uj^on the legation buildings, and put the ministers of the nations in 
imminent peril of their lives. These exalted officials were cut off from all 
communication with their governments, stories of their massacre alone filtering 
through, and the powers, roused to desperation by the danger of their envoys, 
sent ships and troops in all haste to the nearest point to Pekin. In this move- 
ment the United tStates actively joined, its minister, Edwin H. Conger, and the 
members of the embassy sharing the common peril. 

What followed must be briefly told. A small force, made up of soldiers 
and marines of various nations, under Admiral Seymour, of the British navy, 
set out on June 11th for Pekin. This movement failed. The railroad was 
found to be torn up, a strong force of Chinese blocked the way, and Seymour 
and his men were forced to turn back and barely escaped with their lives. 

At tlie same time a naval attack was made on the forts at Taku ; Admiral 
Remey, of the United States navy, refusing to take jiart in this ill-advised 
action. Its immediate result was an assault in force by Boxei's and troops on 
the foreign quarter of the city of Tien Tsin, in which the Chinese fought with 
an unexpected skill and persistence. They were repulsed, but only after the 
hardest fight which foreigners had ever experienced on Chinese soil. 

THE RESCUE OF THE MINISTERS. 

As the month of July went on the mystery at Pekin deepened. It became 
known that the German minister had been murdered, and doubtful reports of 
the slaughter of all the foreigners in the capital were cabled. As it seemed 
imjoossible to obtain authentic news, the greatest possible haste was made to 
collect un army strong enough to march to Pekiu, and early iu August this 



AI)3nXJSTEATI0N OF McKINLEY. 389 

force, consisting of some 16,000 Japanese, Russians, Americans and British, 
set out. A severe struggle was looked for, and their ability to reach Pekiii 
seemed very doubtful. At Peitsang, some twelve miles on the route, the Chinese 
made a desperate resistance, which augured ill for the entei-^irise ; but their 
defeat there seemed to rob them of spiiit, and the gates of Pekin were reached 
with little more fighting. On the 14th the gates were assailed, the feeble opposi- 
tion from within was overcome, and the troops marched in triumph to the British 
legation, the stout walls of which had ofl'ered a haven of refuge to the 
imperilled legationers. 

Glad, indeed, were the souls of the beleaguered men and women within, so 
long in peril of death from torture or starvation, to see the stars and stripes 
and the union jack waving over the coming troops. Only then was the 
mystery surrounding their fate made clear and the safety of all the ministers, 
except the representative of Germany, assured. So far as the United States 
was concerned, the work was at an end. That country wanted no share in the 
partition of China. All it demanded was an "open door " to commerce, an 
equal share in the important Chinese trade. No sooner was its minister rescued 
than it was announced that the American troops Avould be withdrawn as soon as 
proper relations with the Chinese government had lieen consummated, and that 
in no case would the United States support any land-seizing projects of the 
nations of Europe. 

THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1000. 

In the summer of 1900 the national conventions of the political parties 
were held to nominate candidates and formulate platforms for the ])resideiitial 
campaign of that year. The candidates for President proved to be the same as 
in 1896, William McKinley being chosen by the Republicans, AVilliam J. 
Bryan by the Democrats and Populists. For A^ice-President, Adlai E. 
Stevenson, who had filled that office under Cleveland, was selected by the 
Democrat and Po|>ulist parties ; Theodoi'o Roosevelt, Governor of New York 
and the hero of the battle of San Juan, hy the Republicans. 

The platforms of the parties were significant in that the old i)arty war cries 
sank into the background and new princijiles rose into prominence. The tariff, 
so long the leading issue, vanished from sight. The question of free silver 
coinage, so prominent in 1896, became a minor issue. The new 2:>oints in debate 
were the trusts and the policy of so-called Imperialism. The trusts, however, 
could not be made a leading question. Both parties condemned them in their 
platforms, though the Democrats maintained that they were supported by the 
existing administration, and that the Republican party was the snstainer of 
monopoly. This left as the leading issue the question of Imperialism versits 



390 



THE UNITED STATES BECOMES A WORLD POWER. 



Anti-Imperialism, a controversy based on the effort of the administration to 
subdue and control the peojile of the Philippines. The persons opposed to this 
policy had grown in numbers until Anti-Imperialism was taken up as the main 
principle of the Democratic platform. The country became divided upon this 
great question, and the campaign orators fulminated pro and con, with all their 
eloquence, upon the grand problem of the conquest or the independence of the 
Filipinos. The result of the election proved favorable to the Republican can- 
didates, William McKanley being re-elected President by a considerably larger 
majority than in 1896. On March 4, 1901, he was duly re-inaugurated Presi- 
dent of the United States, and Theodore Roosevelt, the new Vice-President, took 
his seat as presiding officer of the United States Senate. 

THE CENSUS OF 1900. 

Much interest was taken throughout the United States in the results of the 
twelfth census which was taken in July, 1900, under the direction of William 
R. Merriam. Elaborate preparations were made and numerous calculating and 
registering machines were employed to facilitate the work. The country was 
divided into 52,600 districts, and from these the returns showed a total popu- 
lation of over 76,000,000 against 62,600,000 by the census of 1890. For 
many years it had been predicted that the census of 1900 would show a popu- 
lation of 100,000,000. There being less public land to be distributed for homes 
has reduced immigration, and been one of the reasons that the percentage of 
increase in population has diminished. The census of 1900 shows that about 
thirty-three per cent, of the population is living in cities or towns of 8,000 
inhabitants or over. In 1890 this percentage was 29. The centre of popula- 
tion for the United States in 1880 was near Columbus, Indiana, and in 1900 
it had moved to a point seven miles southwest of this city. 

The following table shows the aggregate population of twenty cities by the 
twelfth census, in their order, in comparison with that of the eleventh : 



Greater New York 

Chicago 

Philadelphia 

Brooklyn 

St. Louis 

Boston 

Baltimore . 

Cleveland . 

Buffalo 

San Francisco 

Cincinnati . 

rittshurR 

New Orleans 

Detroit 

Milwaukee . 

Washington 

Newark 

tTersey City . 

LouipviUc . 

Minneapolis 



12th Census. 


nth Census 


1000. 


1890. 


3,437.203 


2,606,591 


1,698,57.1 


1,099,850 


1,293, 697 


1,046,964 


1,166,5.S2 


806.343 


57.5,238 


451,770 


560,.S92 


448,477 


508,957 


434,439 


3S1,768 


261,353 


352,219 


255,664 


342,782 


298.997 


325,902 


296.90S 


.^.21,filR 


23,8,617 


287,104 


242,039 


2.85,704 


205,876 


2,85,.^15 


204.468 


278,718 


230.392 


240,070 


181,830 


2nfi,43.-. 


1 63,003 


204,731 


161.129 


202,718 


164,738 




GEN. ARTHUR MacARTHUR. 



GEN. CHARLIiS KING. 




GEN HENRY W. LAWTON, GIIN. IKKU. FUNbTUX, 

POPUUAR COMMANDEPa IN THE FILIPINO WAR. 



391 



392 



AMERICA'S LARGEST CITIES 



55t: aiSfl 

- 4> — n flj 

a rt P o. 

g82 gSs 



5o = 

3 O - 

o d a 
a", 3 



O 
tn 
P 
en 
Z 

w 
o 



to 

W 



— Cow 
3" ««- 



« a— iJ^ >-■;; ^ 
•o ° !,» a " ?■■= 
"7^ n a^ d «'>- 
sis "' ogo-o 

T^w ra*;r- •'JIM 

gas-"- s.Sf" 
Sa°S22°2 

Snip 5 u-sa 



tn 

o 

< 
a 

w 



^ 2-C— - ^ - m 

^ *'-'d.-' be s flj « 
t3 ■*-* 4J b tn Ci-a 

^ o at Rj£i^ w 

*-| CL - " "O 5 •-" 

*- ^ iT 2 S o ■ 

ifl .X3 S D ™ tft 

b -^ d >< "^ t" fe ■ -* 



■a-Sj! 



3ea 



J3 (n * 



o ° o" a 3 "•::: 
„ n o. " a o ° 



3 "^ a"; 



. « J! ' g tit.2 
S3«i 



o a "• 2 o s >. o 



o. ii i*"- a 3 2; 
Si S5 oS-™ u o 

^ " ^-'S 3 J3 



a5fS 



-aSS., 

O A 9> ^ ra ■•>■ ui 
P _, — CO S — CI. 

=- ° a i: & «'-o 

c fl*- n ■" n 






QOO'lJ 

aad 3JEJ xBx 



M fO -^ lOO t>.00 CT» O I 



(-Hi-(«HM>Hwi-ti-i«Mr»CHMWWWCiC4rOfOr<:i 



"-• o o o 00 o a\<i -=t o otX3 - __.._______-__._ 



noiiBniEA 

IBJOJ AJJ^dOJJ 



a^l:7\^O^Of^ 0"~»0 *- O '-' O O "^^ OO^O r^«oO O lOO <N iomD O O Ox -^ lo co 
C^ >-- vO •-■ lO CN 00 ""y^ -^fl O O 0'^<^CJ\ ■»*^ 00 rj- fOGO t^ O O O O^ O^ f^ l~^\0 
O ■* « 0> w O CJNvO O lO c^ O O OX r^ O 0> w ^"^ "^ Wi a\^ -rt -^ C7>0_M iO(0 

CO"— C7\fOt~^C^ O^O (^GO I- O O ON lO'O O'^ t^iOM OOO ■^Ol r^OO CD rO t-^ M »0 
00^ iO d^ fO CJnCO lO lO cT O' t-^ ■- "^ 1-. v£) lO M OvO CO f^-i r<-)0 P*i- rD-^W O r-~r^ 

t-^ T3-a> t^oo CO TT-rrioo •-' ■^'-' >oonto\»-i ooo n t^ o\>-i\d loco o •-' co vo ^t 

Tt r<iQO fOOf^'-'MrOWrO'-'CSi-ii-'M mmmi-i i-i i-i 



3ui)Dnp3p 



BJldBO 



) O ■^ U-)VD O'JD I-' rnO lOM (N-^O "MOO ror^ lO'-O t^ (N rO »0 O 'O t~^ O^^D O 

fo a\co o «N >-. ro »-' r^ ^ r^vo 0000 00 0000^ r^(N o^co r^'^-^a\w -^n 
i -T lo cfioo" fo rr cn" *r) rTvo*" 0\ cf\ ■^^ fO ct\ *r)co f^ -^ looo (n m i— w cr>cc a\ •-< lo 



(smiiq-iiTls 
Saipnpui }Ou) 

IB noijEi 
-ndod JO sisBq 
noajEiiijBaa 



oo6i 'i snnf 
snsu33mj[aAiX 
;b noijEindod 



O O a^rrO^O^^OO^^^*V^^ '^GO "^^O ■^'^ -< O O W ■^^-■^a^C^ a^00 oj ^00 00 

» :-^ HH 00 10*0 6 'i- lO ^v6 6 lA fO tn <ji 



(ssjob) Baav 



pa)Bjodioonx 



O r^ C^ CO CTv lO^ '-OO O -• O O'—'-' t-^rO^O'-' ON^ lO f ^ ro lO <N <J\\D CN t-^ tN l^ 

M lo^ M 00 (7* r^ M t^ a>^ I-" r-^f^r^O Tfi^r^iO'- r^^ -^co cc '>o lo -* m o -' 
rC.y^ ro lo 0*00" '-"'" m' m" lo '-' t-C 10 >ooo ^L \n"Ttw in o\ rr> rn n co'-i d^ looo cc qo 10 
fO ON ON r^vn oco lO'^cN woooooo r^**o o o t^o vo^^ rnr^ts (n <-■ o OO 

TtvOWlOiunlOf^t^rOrOf*5MM<NCS(NC)tNNMh-.i--iJ--ii--ii-iM»-iMi--.^Ml-« 



OOMOONOr-OOt^OOwOQOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOg 

ooi-'cooii^ioiooo'-'ooooooqooooofoooooqoooqoo 
ci 6 cov£) M^6*^6oco66'^666dioio<Nd'^>oii->^66wi- 6t^ 

ON -^ f^ t^^ t^-ON-l-O^ '-' O^O MM rfd 00 O ON -^'X) ""jCO CO -^ O r-- tJ- -r 'O 
•-' IN Onm^"-" "-• cOOOO -^^ inMD rOCO fOCO —1 l>- r^^O -^rMD Tt O O "^ t-^ O '"C fO 

r^cT'^OvO'^'-^iot^oCh >/-^co ro "^ •- 00 w -^ *-" rCvo' lo"- ■-■coioo '-' o'-tio 



tj- r~^ >-• c* n t^"^ M O ONO to-i-^ ■-'^cooo r-^w t>- rn -rr —i- —• 1^0 -^00 r-- ^ m 

— rOO M P4 ONcOrOiO— i"" O M '^ON'0'~OM>0 rO'^tOTl rO'^O ^o -rf ro -i" -i-CO lO 
»J0 O) r-00 00 I^CO CO 00 00 00 CO CO CO r-^QO COOOOOCOCOCOOOCOCOCOOOCOCOOO t--QO 










i-i 01 fc CJ 

S<nZP< 






(N «*)TJ-»/5>0 t^OO 0^ O 



M f^ -^ in\o r^cxD 



AMERICA'S LARGEST CITIES 



39;'. 






OOOOOOOOO O'OOwOiOO'OiOOOOOOCOOOOrOOO 
t^ a\ ri I-- cs --" 6 >ocd "^N t^*4-d ci «- m r^-rj-uS Onoo ro^ r^ -r lo o» « ^ t^\b r^r^^^ovw *^ v^*^ <-4 -^ r* 

cr^KH(N'Mr<)CNrOWMMMi-i'-HC^WC)'--'«MMi-.\£)Mi-ii-*CiWt-"«CO**5M«CSCN«M>--i'0'--«C4WWrO 






i-< r-ioio— OJ^O O '-''-O w r^a\0 W -^OCC iocs fOO t-*0 r-O O ^i- \.^\C) OO 0\ tJ-cO to-^O O-^O O UDOI-^ 



'-' lo Tj- -rr JO -^ i--.^£) lo (N MD -^oo Q O fO-^raNOi'-'O " t'^'o in tj- i-- on i- •!- onco a>o lo^ioi-^fO— f^o fs ^ri 
- >-■ -H vo >- co" oi r^ CN ON-^' rj'co" ^o o'^' o' "-< •-> cs'oo'''0 -t Gr\ i-" i-^oo »o >- r^co' r^'O o' ^-^ ^c Ch t^ r^-so" >o •^'•j£ \o <-^ 

) CN I^VO iJv rO to CS -Tt^ fO r^i-O -+^04 rO^O lOrfr^^iO'-i'sOiO^OtMrrjrO ■-•rOtOrnCli-i'-"!-" M'^t'jCSi-. 



^O '-' CTNt-^ioiO'-* fS lOO-TrO-J-O m sr^ l-~- ^ ^N'^D\D^O Q CI O f^j Cr\ O tJ-O^O) fj'-i cs O O"^ioci O ■-'■-4 lOOD On 0^ cO r^ 

f^'i^ *^Ot O — mD (NOO CS i~> (N -tO O'O OvDCC [--.I-O "^O^C c^ io^ O rn 'rf qs 0\ -rt r^i O lOiOO ■^>— tN TOOO '^'vC' ■— lO 

TT'-'O -^r^OXJOD I- fO ox 0^^ lOO »0*Ot-~-I^iOO\'-' uo — QO Cr«TiO(N O ONCr^O iO<N I^roi-^-riOI^I-^<N\£! ior<~jiOTj- 

CC' "^ r- <N CN M-jOO r-^^O CTiXi O 01 "O Ti O "-• '-' lO^OCr^CJ^lO "^00 •— — U^ O* 0^^■ T^O -T toX l"^ tO 1/"^ o" cfi f^i (N -^ fN \D -^ O* "^ 

(X too o> M lo o fo CI a^ o 'O'O lo — r-* o i-^ oi u-)^ c^ i-^cc cc co i-^ ro o cr- o -rr o -t i - ctn ro »-. .-. -< i^ ro ON so -o '-' r-.\o o 

sD ■^vo lo O X r^ fj O lOOO C^ lOCC Tj- lOCC rOO -"^lOCHvO '^-'^O r^OCO rriO'-i r^ rO\Q i- CN -rf N Q t^ Ol u-j l^ C4 co CS l^ CTi 



tO^ CO -^ r<3 h 



CO CO ro w v£) 



CO l-l M w CO CO 



r* « "O -^ -rj- r^ rt »oco ■-' vogo io m w u-j *-< i^x — lo-"- -i--^ONioM o -i-w t^ioioo -^^ o o »o t~.co comd lo r^ lo lO'O 

f •-« « lO ID cOGO "T lOGO CS CM t^vO C4 VO "O cO -^ ro O cO^O CN I->. cO '^00 CA t^ rO rr, 0\ ^ O O "^D 'J3 irj -rf i-^ Q ^ c^ ^ (NMmD 



lO "^ U-) lO ONOO •^lOiO'-H'-icSi-iO 

r<^ ta< lo >-( 01 ro co^ \0 CO CS •'^OO 



»o cs 

CO O 


lo o 


coco ^O O lO'T'-^ ONt^'^cO'- u-if-" COM ON'O OncoOXcO'-' (jNtor-^t^O 

0>j -Ta\i^ioO — -■ loco-^ONcs CTs lox Oco -Tr^ior-~-H o>0 '- cnio 


in t^ '^ o o cs cO'3"'^io 

'O lO C^ ro 0> O OnX) -^ t^ 


t^ .ON C4 CO CI 
O ^O -^ ON ^ 


CO 'X 


— \o 


— -o ON o ^ c^ fo i-o -rx co t^ i-- co^o "O lo lo -^ co onco o lo ^n ■-. a\\D co 


1-^ N -i- C^ — t^ O covO CO 
-MCOCN-W-P-i^-i 


^ K- « ,- C4 — 



cOO^>OC^OMD 0'-<\0^0 M lOcOO vr> >-> O -"CO u~i t^\D coO Oncs ONOfOi-- •^r--r-.coO t^-^M m OncoO '-'CO r-^uo-' — 0\ 
^ r-~iOI-^CS fNVO "OX CS r--\0 f-O lO^ t-. rO'O O coo CTi'-'WD 'O'^rOiO'^ »0^0 OCOCO O O -^cOCNVO rOcOM t- \0 Tj-cOCN lO 

CO ONio-Tcoo c;> — v:) -^x lo^-ooxvox cr-'oocooioONio-^'-' o-o^o coo onco — ^o cn locoaNt^M t^rri- i- o^^o x 



OOOO^OOOOcoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOa^OOC^lO^O 
OOO'^O'TOOrrL^OOOOOOOOOO'OOcs OOOO coco OOOOOOXOOO'^OO'-O-^O 


O o o 
O o o 


6 6 6 -4- 6 X cj t-^ --1 d do d m5 6 d >o lo ch d io'sD •-.dr^cod'-ocoddddd^ ^m2 66'^6 6^6'i-6 

"Tj- O QO I--- -r 0^ rO'jD X OtO ci <n CTici-O^ — O^ I"^ lOX r-- r-vX? M3 O^'XJ'i-O O CTv I-^-sD CTv "T (^ -JD O O -"OX 

cs "rt\o t^ CN -H a\x — m:? o c^ i^'O cr> r^ o on io^d ■-> lo cn -rr »o ^o lovo r~- co onx r^'*i-c-i oi cnx o o rj-t^ — ^o i-^^ 


oco 

O -1- o 
rj- CM -rj- 


v£) O >0 r^ O 01 t^vO TriOI>-'-'VD lOiOO -■ fO^D lO cox l^O -^ri T-tCN CO CO — VD cOcOCOCS r'-j^ t3-iocOO^cO'- 
Mh-.CS — p-i CS— cO--^ CS— COM Ot tOCS"^ >-. 


ro C* CS 


•i- -" r^ O I-^'O VD^^O - t--0 O CNSO Ch-:l-t--CNX CMvO O '^cor^t-.CM CS^O lO t-->ri CMiOcOOO" O-i ir^ — ^00(N-iiocO 

in lo »o «o <N ^o cox -i-io-rfinT'^O'OX -i-cocn aN'0»o»oiO'tioior~.i-' lOTTTco-rxx'O -rrr^ioio r-.co ^o co r^ -t- uo 

XXXXXXX^OXXXXX t^X X r-^X X X t^X X X X X X X X X 'X X X X X I- I--X xxxxxxxxxxx 





ss. 



'U a 

--■S ^ c ffl 
^^ = o «; 5 

facnOf-jScfi 






ir. 



■a z & . 

> n C t- 
O S^ CO O 

i-J<!UP-. 



. 13 — K^ 
CO ■-; Jl . 



a 



ti) ^ O 



en en 

C3 rt 



^' 



J3 t; 






b CO 

CO CJ 



_; n - 

— OJ3 



_ „,S«5!Mi--^f.-a -CO"' 



a 
— a 



d CJ 



-H 

.ti o 
o o ' 



j5:>"3 CO 



a j<i ^ S _. 

>> CO CO .«J CJ 



9 o 



JsSJS'^Scocc >> CO cocjcj ao c-Ci.KSii " -o 
ZtTiMBiPaHeQi-JOuiZQtntnHWWSt'CL.o 



o_> co-^g^g 






i: a- 

CO CO , 



- ^ 

03 -1-' 


rt 

^ 


U 




Q_, <Ll 


'/I 


m 


X! 


C 






rt 






c^S 


^ 


G 






WW 


& 




(2 



.- 3 



;z..^ 



o o = 



fO -^ '0\0 t-'-OO ON O »-< « CO -* lO'O t-~X ON O •-< C* CO rf »0\0 r-CO Ox O >- (N fO "<* lO^O r^CO ON O — M co ■^ lO^O r-*X ON O w 

e*5cocococococo'^'*T'T'^Tj--TTt-'»^'^^ioioioioioioioioio lO'O 'ONOvosO'O^ONOvovo r^r-.i-r-.i>.t^r«.r-.r>. r^oo CO 



394 



POPULATION AND POPULAR VOTE 



Population and Popular Vote by States for Prbsidential Electors 1900. 



Alabama . . . . 
Arkansas . . . . 
California . . . 
Colorado . . . . 
Connecticut . . 
Delaware . . . . 

Florida 

Georgia . . . . 

Idabo 

Illinois 

Indiana . . . . 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky. . . . 
Louisiana . . . 

Maine 

Maryland . . . 
Massachusetts . 
Michigan . . . 
Minnesota . . . 
Mississippi . . . 
Misso.uri . . . . 
Montana . . . . 
Nebraska . . . 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 
New Jersey . . . 
New York . . . 
North Carolina . 
North Dakota . 

Ohio 

Oregon . . . . 
Pennsylvania . . 
Rhode Island . . 
South Carolina . 
South Dakota 
Tennessee . . . 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont . . . . 
Virginia . . . . 
Washington . . 
West Virginia 
Wisconsin . . . 
Wyojniug . . . 

Total ... 



Population 

By 

Twelfth Census. 



territories, etc. 

Alaska (estimate) . . 

Arizona 

District of Columbia 

Hawaii 

Indian Territory . . 
New Mexio . . . . 
Oklahoma 

Total 



1,828,697 

1,485,053 

539.700 

908.355 

i 84,735 

528,542 

2,216,329 

161,771 

4,821,550 

2,516,463 

2.251,829 

1,469,496 

2,147.174 
1,381,627 

694,366 
1,189,946 
2,805,346 
2,119,782 
1.75 1.395 
1.551.372 
3,107,117 

243.289 

1,068,901 

42,334 

411,588 
1,883,669 
7,268,009 
1,891,992 

319,040 
4.157.545 

413.532 
6,301,365 

428,566 
1.340,512 

401.559 

2,022,728 

3,048,828 

276,565 

343.641 

1,854,184 

517,672 

958,900 

2,ob8,963 

92.531 



Electoral 
Votes. 



s 



4 
10 

30 

3 
23 

4 
32 

4 



1 1 
8 



4 

■3 

3 



13 
8 



9 

17 
3 



12 
15 



74,627,907 292 



44,000 
122,212 
278,718 
154,001 
39 I , 960 
193.777 
39S. 245 



76,210,820 



153 



5 S- 



53.669 
44,800 

164.755 
93.072 

102,572 
22,560 

7.499 
35.036 
27,198 

597.985 
336.063 
307,808 

185,955 
226,801 

14.233 

65.4-5 

136,212 

239.147 
316,269 
190.461 

5.753 
314,093 

25.373 
121,835 

3.849 

54.798 
221,707 
821,992 
133.081 

35.891 
543.918 

46,526 
712,665 

33.784 
3.525 

54.530 
123,008 
130,641 

47,089 

42,569 
115.895 

57.456 
119,851 
265,866 

14,482 



7,217.677 



96,368 
81,142 

124,985 
122,733 

74.014 
18,863 
28,007 
81,700 

29.414 
503.061 

309.584 
209,265 
162,601 
234,899 

53.671 

36,823 
122,271 
157.016 
211,685 
112,901 

51.706 
351.913 

37.146 

114.013 

6,347 

35.489 
164,808 
678,386 
157.752 

20,519 
474,882 

33.385 

424.232 

19,812 

47.283 

39.544 

145.250 

267,432 

44,949 

12,849 

146,080 

44,833 

98,791 

159.285 

10,164 



6.357.853 



^ ?; 



1,407 

584 

5.024 

3.790 

1,617 

546 

2,239 

1.396 

857 

17,626 

13,718 

9.502 

3.605 

2,429 



2.585 
4.582 
6,208 

11.S59 
8.555 

5.963 

298 

3.686 



1,261 

7.183 
22,043 
1,009 

731 
10,203 

2,536 

27,908 

1,592 



1,542 

3.900 

2,644 

205 

383 

2,150 

2,345 

1.586 

10,124 



207,368 



3.797 
972 

389 



1.090 

4.584 

213 

1,141 

1,438 

613 

2,017 



837 

1,644 
4.244 

1,104 



669 

830 
no 

251 
275 

638 



339 
1.368 
20,981 

367 



279 

2 



50.192 



7.572 

684 

1,029 

57 
603 



9,687 

2,374 

2,742 

1,605 

760 



878 

908 

9,716 

2,826 

3,065 

6,128 
708 
823 



790 
4,609 
12,869 

' 518 
4,847 
1,494 
4.851 



169 

410 

1,846 

717 



1,906 

2S6 

7.095 



94,551 



AGUTNALDO CAPTURED BY GENERAL FVNSTON. 395 

In March, 1901, an event of leading importance took ])]ace in tlie Philip- 
pine Islands in the capture of Eniile Aguinaldo, President of the Philij)pine 
government and conunander-in-chief of its forces. On February 28th, General 
Funston had captured a messenger bearing letters from the insurgent leader, 
■which revealed the fact that he was then at the town of Palanan, in northwest 
Luzon. Funston at once devised a plan and organized a force for his capture. 

The expedition consisted of seventy-eight Macabebe scouts, dressed as in- 
surgents and laborers, and four ex-insurgent officers. The only Americans 
were Funston and four other officers, who had disguised themselves as privates. 
Funston had jii-epared two decoy letters, apparently signed by the insurgent 
general Lacuna, whose seal and correspondence he had captured some time 
before. These stated that Lacuna was sending his superior the best company 
under his command. 

Landing from the gunboat Vicksburg, the party made a toilsome march 
over a very rugged country. Tliey reached Palanan on March 23d. Agui- 
naldo was completely deceived by the letters, and the story told him that the 
Americans were part of a surveying party which had been surprised on the 
march, part being killed and jjart taken. His household guards were drawn up 
to receive the visitors and their captives. Suddenly the mask was thrown off, 
firing began, and one of the ex-insurgent officers seized and held him firmly. 
His attendants and body-guard at once took to flight, and in a few minutes the 
affiiir was at an end, and the Filipino leader was a captive to the Americans. 
Tiie expedition had proved a complete success. The important prisoner was 
brought to Manila, and confined there in the Malacanan Palace. Here he soon 
regained his calmness, talked freely, and was visited by a number of prominent 
Filipinos, who sought to convince him that the struggle was hojieless, and ad- 
vised him to use his influence with the people to establish peace. Their argu- 
ments were effective, Aguinaldo expressed his satisfaction with the form of gov- 
ernment, and on April 2d he took the oath of allegiance to the United States. 

The effect of his capture proved highly favorable. Several prominent in- 
surgent leaders at once surrendered themselves and their bands, and it seemed as 
if a new era of peace was about to dawn. Aguinaldo, who had apparently ex- 
perienced a change of opinion, did his share towards liastening it by sending 
peace emissaries to the chiefs still in arms and signing a peace manifesto for dis- 
tribution among the people. General Funston's brilliant exploit was not left 
unrewarded. Its value was heightened by the great risk he had run in his 
daring deed, and on March 30th President McKinley promoted him to the rank 
of Brigadier-General in the United States army. His comrades were also 
suitably rewarded for their participation in the exploit, which was looked upon 
as the most signal instance of courage and daring during the entire war. 



-ft «^ 




* »'*>,*' ^ , 







\mf;!i\ 




396 



PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 2f)7 

After two years of more or less active warfare tlie struggle in the Philip- 
pines was practically at an end. There were still some bands of brigands in 
tlu! mountains, as there had been for centuries, but the revolutionists ceased 
their opposition, and the Taft Commission, appointed by President McKinley 
to establish a liberal form of government in the islands, met with the greatest 
success in its work. At the same time a large number of teachers were sent out 
from the United States to establish schools in the islands, and thus conier upon 
their people the highest boon which this country was able to bestow — that of 
education on liberal principles. 

PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 

Among the events of the opening year of the twentieth century one of the 
most interesting was the Pan-American Exposition, held in the city of Buffalo, 
N. Y., from May 1 to November 1. This project was first planned in 1897, 
the exposition to be held on a small scale, in 1899, on Cayuga Island, near 
Niagara Falls. The Spanish- American War, however, checked this project, and 
when it was revived it was on a more ambitious scale. Buffalo was chosen as 
the site, and the original 50 acres were expanded into 350 acres, the ground 
chosen including the most beautiful portions of Delaware Park. A fund of 
$5,000,000 was ^Jrovidod by the city and citizens of Buffalo, appropriations were 
made by the State of New York and the Federal Government, and the work 
was begun on an estimate of $10,000,000 of expenditures. 

The purpose of this Exposition is clearly indicated in its name. It con- 
cerned itself solely with the countries of the two Americas and the new posses- 
sions of the United States, of which it was proposed to show the progress during 
the nineteenth century, a leading object of the enterprise being to bring into 
closer relations, commercially and socially, the republics and colonies of the 
Western Hemisphere and promote intercourse between their peoples. The De- 
partment of State, in June, 1899, invited the various American governments to 
take part in the enterprise, and acceptances were very generally received. 

The preparations made for the Exposition were of the most admirable 
character, and, when completed, the grounds and buildings j^resented a magnifi- 
cent scene. While on a smaller scale than the Philadelphia and Chicago 
World's Fairs, the Bufililo Fair surpassed all previous ones in architectural 
beauty. Instead of presenting the pure white of the Columbian Exposition, 
there was a generous use of brilliant colors and rich tints, which gave a glowing 
rainbow effect to the artistically grouped buildings ; the general style of archi- 
tecture being a free treatment of the Spanish Renaissance, in compliment to the 
Latin-American countries taking part. The elaborate hydraulic and fountain 

25 



398 TRANS-CONTINENTAL TOUR OF THE PRESIDENT. 

arrangements, the horticultural and floral settings, and the sculjitural ornament- 
ation, added greatly to the general effect. 

Of the varied elements of the display, that of electricity stood first, the enor- 
mous electrical plant at Niagara and its connection by wire with Buffalo afford- 
ing unequalled fiicilities in this direction. The Electric Tower, 375 feet high, was 
tlie centre-piece of the Exposition, the edifice itself being stately and beuutifid 
and its electric display on the grandest scale. The vari-colored electrical fountain 
was strikingly beautiful. There were winding canals, caverns and grottoes, 
water cascades, towers, domes and pinnacles, and other objects of attraction, not 
the least of them the Midway, with its diversified display, a feature which has 
become indispensable to all recent enterprises of this chai'acter. 

The exhibits were divided into fifteen classes, ranging from fine arts to 
transportation, and including displays from the Hawaiian and Philippine 
Islands. During the summer and autumn the attendance was very large, the 
near vicinity of Niagara Falls, with its supreme scenic grandeur, forming a 
splendid addition to the commercial and industrial attractions of the Fair. 

TRANS-CONTINENTAL TOUR OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Another event of much public interest which marked the year 1901 was a 
grand tour of the entire country projected by President McKinley, on a scale 
far surpassing those undertaken by jireceding Presidents, its limits being the 
Atlantic and Pacific in the East and West, and the Gulf and Lake States in the 
North and South. Leaving Washington on May 7th in a special train, whose 
cars were provided with every convenience and luxury which art could devise 
and skill provide, and following roads where the utmost care and precaution 
were taken to insure ease, safety and comfort of travel, the party proceeded 
through the southern portion of its route, the President being received in all 
the large cities and towns with a generous enthusiasm which sjioke volumes for' 
the unity of sentiment throughout the country. His appreciative remarks and 
well-chosen res]ionses to addresses of welcome added greatly to the kindly feel- 
ing with which he was everywhere received. Unfortunately the severe illness 
of Mrs. McKiidey, after San Francisco had been reached, put an end to the 
tour when lialf completed. The life of the " Lady of the White House " was 
despaired of, but she recovered sufficiently to be brought back by the shortest 
route to Washington, attended at every jDoint by her loving husband with the 
most assiduous and anxious care. 

The presence of the President in Washington was needed, for important 
political questions had arisen demanding his immediate attention and extended 
consultation with the members of his cabinet. These arose in consequence of a 
decision of the Sujjreme Court of the United States fixing the status of our 




399 



400 AFFAIRS IN CUBA AND CHINA. 

insular possessions. In a nunilier of instances duties had been collected on 
goods imported from Porto Kico and Hawaii to this country, and in one instance 
fourteen diamonds brought by a soldier from the Philippine Islands had been 
seized for non-payment of duty. Several lawsuits brought for the recovery of 
these duties, on the claim that they had been illegally exacted, were decided 
adversely to the claimants by the lower courts, and appeals were taken to the 
Supreme Court. A decision was rendered by this court on May 28, 1901, in the 
suit of DeLima & Co., merchants of New York, which covered all the cases in- 
volved except the Philippine one, which was left in doubt. This opinion, an- 
nounced by Justice Brown, was concurred in by five members of the court. Chief 
Justice Fuller and Associate Justices Brown, Brewer, Harlan and Peckham, and 
dissented from by Justices Gray, Shiras, Wliite and McKenna. 

The decision was to the effect, that before the Treaty of Paris Porto Rico 
was a foreign country and its exports were subject to full duties. After that treaty 
it became a domestic territory, and as such subject to the jurisdiction of Con- 
gress while it continued a territorial jiossession, the decision being that Congress 
has the right to administer the government of a territory and to lay such 
duties upon its commerce as it deems suitable. The effect of this decision was 
that, from the signing of the Treaty of Paris till the passage of the Foraker 
act fixing the duties at 15 per cent., no duties could legally be collected on 
Porto Pican goods. After that act was passed the duties designated by it could 
be exacted. 

This crucial decision fixes the status of all our insular possessions under 
civil control. But the court adjourned without rendering an opinion on the 
Philippine case, and as the Philippine Islands diflered from Porto Rico in being 
under military control, the question as to the right of the government to collect 
duties upon Philippine goods remained unsettled. Many held that the Presi- 
dent had no authority to exact duties, and that it would be necessary to call 
an extra session of Congress in order to pass a law governing the Philippine 
customs ; but the President decided that this was not needed, and that existing 
acts of Congress governed this special case. 

AFFAIRS IN CUBA AND CHINA. 

This was one of the questions which confronted President McKinley on 
his return to Washington. Anotlier had to do with Cuban affairs. The Cuban 
Constitutional Convention had accepted the Act of Congress fixing the relations 
between the United States and Cuba and establishing what might be called 
a mild form of protectorate over the island ; but its acceptance was vitiated 
by conditions which the President declined to accept, and the question was 
returned to the convention with the decisive understanding that the Piatt 



OTHER EVENTS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. 401 

amendment must be accepted in its entirety, or the military occupation of Cuba 
would necessarily continue. On June 12, 1901, the Cuban Convention accepted 
this amendment in its original i'orm, and the sole obstacle to Cuban independ- 
ence was removed. 

Meanwhile the Chinese situation had been modified by the withdrawal of 
the American troops, except a legation guard ; other nations also ordering the 
withdrawal of their troops and restoring the government to the Chinese. The 
indemnity demanded from and accepted by China amounted to $237,000,000, 
with interest at not over 4 per cent. This large sum was objected to by the 
United States Government, but was adopted on the demand of the other nations 
concerned. 

OTHER EVENTS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. 

Among other events of national importance was the settlement of the vexed 
question of the number of soldiers in the army. The provision to make it 
100,000 men was modified on suggestion of General Miles, and the number 
fixed at 76,000, making one soldier for every 1000 of the population. The 
problem of a ship canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific was also given a new 
phase by a proposition from the French Panama Canal Company to sell their 
partly completed canal to the United States. This opened the question as to 
the comparative availability of the two routes, the Nicaragua and the Panama, 
and left the final choice open to future decision. 

In the spring of 1901 a signal discovery of petroleum was made in the 
southwest, a well being opened at Beaumont, Texas, which threw a six-inch 
stream of oil a hundred feet into the air. Other rich wells were subsequently 
opened, some of them in Louisiana and Tennessee, and great excitement pre- 
vailed in the speculative world. The oil differed essentially from that of Penn- 
sylvania, being ill adapted to refining and principally suitable for fuel. 

One of the most striking events of the year was the formation of an indus- 
trial combination on an unprecedented scale, a gigantic union of the steel manu- 
facturing interests of the country, with the immense capital of fl, 100,000,000. 
A line of steamships was purchased in the interest of this concern, the railroad 
magnates of the country added to their holdings, and showed indications of an 
eventual general combination of transportation facilities, and the public stood 
aghast at these vast operations, in doubt as to where they would end, or how the 
interests of the great multitude would be affected. In the spring of 1902 this 
combination of interests was added to by a stupendous amalgamation of the 
trans-Atlantic steamship lines, embracing nearly all the great passenger and 
freight steamships plying between Eurojie and America ; the whole controlled 
by the American capitalists, who were at the head of the new steel and railroad 



402 McKINLEY SLAIN BY AN ANARCHIST. 

combinations. It was with such vast financial and industrial operations that 
the new century began its career. 

On the afternoon of Friday, September 6, 1901, this country and the whole 
world were thrown into consternation as the news was flashed over the wires 
that President McKinley had fallen by the hand of an assassin. That day had 
been appointed as Presidents' Day at the Pan-American Exposition held at 
Buffalo, and elaborate preparations had been made to make this the event of 
the Exposition, all the high dignitaries of State, including the representatives 
of all the American governments, were in attendance. On September 5th the 
President delivered a speech, which was easily his greatest effort, advocating 
reciprocity in trade and greater encouragement to commerce. On the morning 
of the 6th, with his wife and party, he had visited Niagara Falls and inspected 
the Exposition. After luncheon he was to hold a public reception in the 
Temple of Music to meet his countrymen and take them by the hand. No 
trouble was anticipated, although precautions had been taken to avoid mis- 
haps. President McKinley, assisted by President Milburn and others, received 
tlie people as they moved by in a long, continuous line, shaking hands and smil- 
ing upon each. The would-be assassin was a rather tall, boyish-looking fellow, 
apparently 25 years old ; about his right hand was wrapjjed a handkerchief, 
giving the impression to the officers that his hand was injured, especially as 
he extended his left across the right to shake hands with the President. 

Innocently facing the assassin, the President smiled as he extended his 
right hand to meet the left of the man before him. As the youth extended his 
left hand he suddenly raised his right, the one which held the pistol, and 
before any one knew what was transpiring two shots rang out, one following 
the other after the briefest portion of a second. For the first moment there 
was not a sound. 

The President drew his right hand quickly to his chest, raised his head, 
and his eyes looked upward and rolled. He swerved a moment, reeled and 
was caught in the arms of Secretary Cortelyou to liis right. Catching liim- 
self for the briefest second. President McKinley, whose face was now tlie white- 
ness of death, looked at the assassin as the officers and soldiers bore him to the 
floor, and said, feebly: "May God forgive him." The President was first 
helped to a chair but was quickly removed on a stretcher to the emergency hos- 
pital, and ail the eminent surgeons within reach were summoned. 

Two wounds were located, one in the breast, which was not serious, and 
the other in the abdomen, which proved fatal. There was every hope at first 
that he would recover, but after some days there came a relapse, and, although 
all that surgical and medical skill conld do was done. President McKinley passed 



ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT iPKINLEY. 403 

away early on the morning of September 14tli. His last words were memorable : 
"It's God's way ; His will, not ours, be done." 

The world joined the American people in mourning the beloved President. 
He was given a state funeral at Washington, September 17tli, and buried at 
Canton, his home city, September 19th, amid impressive ceremonies. 

THE ASSASSIN. 

The man who assassinated President McKinley was Leon Czolgosz, a Rus- 
sian Pole and an anarchist. At the time of the assassination he was described 
as follows : " He is twenty-eight years of age, slim, of dai'k complexion, with 
an intelligent and rather pleasing face. His features are straight and regular. 
He dresses with considerable neatness. There is nothing in his appearance 
that would attract unusual attention. He is not a suspicious-looking person." 

Czolgosz's parents were born in Russian Poland. They came to this 
country about 1865 as immigrants, and settled in the West. Czolgosz was born 
in Detroit, and hence was not an immigrant. He received some education in 
the common schools of that city, but left school and went to work when a boy 
as a blacksmith's apprentice. Later he read all the socialistic literature which he 
could obtain, and finally began to take part in socialistic meetings. In time he 
became fairly well known in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, not only as a 
socialist, but as an anarchist of the most bitter type. 

Czolgosz was placed on trial in Buffalo, September 23d, and was given able 
counsel to protect his interests. After an unsensational and impartial trial he 
was found guilty, and, on September 26th, he was sentenced to die in the 
electric chair at Auburn Prison, in the State of New York. The execution 
took place in the early morning of October 29, 1901, in the presence of twenty- 
two witnesses and the prison officials. 




404 



The United States and the Twentieth 
Century Problems. 

THE TWENTY-SIXTH PRESIDENT. 

By the provision of the Coiistitution governing the succession, Theodore 
Roosevelt, the Vice-President, became President of tlie United States upon the 
death of William McKinley. He was at the time seeking recreation in the 
Adirondacks, but, on receiving the news, he sped with all haste to Buffalo, where, 
on September 14th, he took the oath of office, at the same time |>ledging himself 
to carry out the policy of his predecessor. 

Theodore Eoosevelt' was born October '27, 1858, in the city of New York, 
and Ttherefore attained to the Presidency in his forty-third year, being the 
youngest of all our Presidents. Graduating from Harvard University in 1880, 
he quickly grew active in New. York 2)olitics, and in 1881 was elected a 
member of the Assembly. He served for three years in that body, in which he 
became influential and took a leading part in reform legislation for New 
York City. 

In 1884 he was the Republican candidate for Mayor of New York, and, 
though defeated, received a large vote. He was appointed in 1889, by President 
Harrison, on the Civil Service Commission, and in 1895 became Police Com- 
missioner of New York. His earnestness and energy for reform in both of these 
offices won him a national reputation, and led, in April, 1897, to his appoint- 
ment as Assistant Secretary of the NavJ^ Here, too, he did excellent work, 
but as soon as war with Spain was assured he resigned, organized the regiment 
of cowboy cavalry familiarly known as " Roosevelt's Rough Riders," and made 
himself the most pojuilar figure in the Santiago campaign in Cuba. Coming 
home as the real hero of the military part of the war, as Dewey was of the 
naval, he was, in the autumn of 1898, elected Governor of New York, and, in 
1900, much against his own desire, was given the Republican nomination for 
Vice-President. Some of the party leaders lioped thus to "shelve" this ener- 
getic and unmanageable favorite of the jieople in a passive post of honor, but, as 

405 



406 ADMINISTRATION OF ROOSEVELT. 

events proved, the nomination led him to the highest office in the gift of the 
American people. 

OPENING OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 

The President's demeanor in the elevated position to which he had so 
suddenly and unexpectedly been raised was one that inspired public confidence 
and met with general approval. In addition to his pledge to conform to the 
policy of the McKinley administration, he requested all the members of the 
Cabinet to remain in office till the end of his term. These assurances dissipated 
the feeling of dread that the new President might inaugurate an untried and 
disastrous policy, as in some previous instances of the same kind. 

The first official act of President Roosevelt was to issue a proclamation 
appointing Thursday, September 19th, as a day 6f mourning for the lamented 
late President. In the impressive funeral obsequies which followed he took 
part as chief mourner on the part of the nation, and comported himself with a 
grave dignity well suited to the situation, and winning him fresh public esteem. 

THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 

Several events of much importance took place in the early months of the 
new administration, chief among them being what is known as the Hay- 
Pauncefote Treaty — a convention between the United States and Great Britain 
to establish a new status of these powers in Nicaragua. 

For years the desirability of constructing an inter-oceanic ship canal across 
Nicaragua or the Isthmus had been strongly felt. Much work in excavation 
had been done by private companies ; but these having fiiiled, Congress became 
inclined to make the enterprise a national one, the United States to construct 
and control the canal. Commissions of encrineers were sent to investigate and 
report on the most available route, with the result of that across Nicaragua, via 
the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, being given the preference. 

One thing stood in the way of this, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, 
which still held good in spite of various effiarts for its repeal. This treaty 
established a joint control between the United States and Gi'eat Britain over 
any canal that might be made, an arrangement by no means satisfactory in case 
the United States should construct it alone. As this treaty had wrecked several 
efforts to carry a canal bill through Congress, a new treaty was negotiated in 
1900, but failed of acceptance, as it did not remove the old difficulty. Finally, 
in 1901, a second treaty was prepared by Secretary Hay and Lord Pauncefote, the 
British Ambassador, in which the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was formally set 
aside, and the United States given sole control of the canal ; which, however, 
was to be free and open to the vessels of all nations. This treaty was ratified 
by the Senate on December 16, 1901. 



THE SCHLEY COURT OF INQUIRY. 407 

Bills for the construction of a canal at the cost of the United States were 
now introduced into both Houses of Congress, the estimated cost being $189,- 
000,000. Tiie House bill was jiassed early in January, 1902, with only two 
negative votes. But before the Senate could act the situation took on a new phase. 
The Panama Canal, partly excavated by the De Lesseps Company, and upon 
which a new company had been engaged, was offered to the United States at a 
cost of $40,000,000. As it was about two-fifths finished, it was estimated that 
at this price it could be completed more cheaply than the Nicaragua Canal. 
It presented other advantages also, and the commission now reported in its 
favor. Tlie Senate, however, deferred action upon the subject. 

PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS. 

On October 22, 1901, there met in the city of Mexico a congress of dele- 
gates from the United States and the various other American Republics, to con- 
sider questions of policy concerning the relations of the peoples of the Western 
Continent. The most important subject dealt with by this Pan-American 
Congress, as it was called, was that of international arbitration. An agreement 
was made to adopt the regulations made at the Hague Arbitration Conference, 
and a majority of the delegates went so far as to favor compulsory arbitration. 
This failed through the opposition of Chili, unanimous approval being necessary. 

THE .SCHLEY COURT OF INQUIRY. 

A more immediate subject of interest was the action of the Naval Court of 
Inquiry convened at the request of Admiral Schley to investigate his conduct 
during the war with Spain. Since this war a controversy had existed between 
his friends and those of Admiral Sampson, one party claiming for Schley, the 
other for Sampson, the honor of commanding in the great fight with the Spanish 
squadron at Santiago. A scurrilous attack made upon Schley by the author of 
a history of the United States Navy, an extreme Sampson partisan, was the 
immediate cause of Admiral Schley's attempt to obtain vindication. 

The court convened at Washington, September 12, 1901, with Admiral 
Dewey as presiding officer and Admirals Benham and Eamsay as the remaining 
members. Its decision was made public on December 13th. In this decision 
the nuijority of the court, while giving Schley credit for courage, found him 
blamable in several important particulars, including the famous " loop," or 
turn of the " Brooklyn " away ft-om the Spanish vessels. 

Admiral Dewey gave a minority report, in which he sustained Schley in most 
of these particulars, and said further : " He was in absolute command, and is 
entitled to the credit due to such commanding officer for the glorious victory 
wiiich resulted in the total destruction of the Spanish ships." 



408 ADMINISTRATION OF ROOSEVELT. 

Secretary of the Navy Long approved of the majority finding of the court, 
whereupon Admiral Schley made a personal ajjpeal to the President for a 
revision of the case. After a full study of the evidence, Roosevelt dismissed 
the whole affair, with the implication that neither of the contestants had won 
any special honor, remarking that no action had been taken on any ship " in 
obedience to the orders of either Sampson or Schley, save on their own two 
vessels. It was a captain's fight." This decision was soon followed by the 
death of Admiral Sampson, which took place May 6, 1902. 

EXPOSITIONS OF ART AND INDUSTRY. 

The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo closed at the beginning of 
November, and on December 1st there was inaugurated at Charleston, S. C, a 
South Carolina Inter-state and West Indian Exposition, to remain open for six 
months. 

This exposition was opened by President Roosevelt, who touched an electric 
button in the White House, at Washington, and set the machinery in motion. It 
embraced a general exhibit of the refeults of industry in the South, while many 
Northern States and a number of the West India Islands contributed. AVhile 
on a smaller scale than the Buffiilo Exposition, the buildings were artistic and 
handsome, and the exhibits highly attractive, reflecting great credit on the 
enterprise and industry of the South. An exposition on a much larger scale, 
a World's Fair at St. Louis, commemorating the purchase of Louisiana Terri- 
tory in 1803, is projected for 1904. 

Roosevelt's first message. 

President Roosevelt's message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its opening 
session, was looked for with intense interest. During the brief period in which 
he had occupied the presidential chair he had won popular applause, while fiiith 
in his sturdy integrity and admiration for his stalwart independence of character 
gained him friends in all parties. But the exact stand he would take on the 
great public questions of the day was not known, and the people awaited his 
message with a degree of anxiety. 

The document, when issued, was therefore read with avidity. It showed 
the hand of a practiced author and clear thinker, and its treatment of the varied 
topics reviewed was held to be able and promising. The hand of the earnest 
reformer, yet of the self-contained statesman, was evident throughout. 

Several of the problems referred to in the President's message became 
subjects of Congressional action. Among these was the canal question, already 
mentioned, and the passage of a bill regulating tariff" charges upon Philippine 
commerce. The tariff" on exports from Porto Rico had been abolished by 



VISIT OF PRINCE HENRY. 409 

President IMcKinley, in aceonliiiiee with the terms of the act of C()ii_<i;ress in 
tlie suiniiiei- of 1901. On Marcli 8, 11)02, a Philippine tariff bill was enacted 
by which the duties on exports to the United States wei-e reduced twenty-five 
per cent. 

The war taxes imposed to provide funds for the war with Spain were found, 
after the expenses of this war had been met, to yield an excess of revenue. In 
consecjuence, a strong demand for their repeal was made. The principal stamp 
taxes had been taken otf in I'JOl, and in 1U02 the remainder of these taxes 
were repealed, the country returning to its ante-war revenue status. Another 
Congressional measure of importance had to do with the act for the exclusion of 
the Chinese. This expired in the spring of PJ02, and a renewal of the " yellow- 
peril," in the form of a great influx of Chinese laborers, was threatened. This 
was prevented by a re-enactment of the law. It was made to apply also to the 
Philippine Islands, which had hitherto been freely open to Chinese immigration. 
Still another Congressional measure was the establishment of a permanent census 
bureau. The work in this field of labor had so increased that it was deemed 
necessary to keep it in continuous action. 

CUBAN RECIPROCITY. 

Among the measures considered during this session of Congress, one of 
the most important had to do with Cuban affairs. In accordance with the con- 
stitution adopted for the new Republic of Cuba, an election was held on the last 
day of 1901, Tomas Estrada Palma being chosen for President. The final 
act in giving full independence to the island republic was the withdrau'al of 
United States troops, which was fixed to take place May 20, 1902. 

But the Cubans found their new independence likely to prove a serious 
economic burden. Cuba being a foreign country, only temporarily under Ameri- 
can supervision, the full tariff charges of the United States revenue law were 
enforced against its exports. Of these the most important was sugar, whose 
production was the leading industry of the island. This product was chiefly 
consumed in the United States. But it could not compete profitably with the 
beet-sugar of Europe, and unless some tariff concession was made the sugar 
planters would be in peril of ruin. 

President Roosevelt, feeling that we owed some degree of protection to the 
country which we had launched on the high seas of independence, advocated in 
his message a measure of tariff reciprocity with Cuba, and a bill was introduced 
in Congress for a partial remission of the duty on sugar. 

VISIT OF PRINCE HENRY. 

A very interesting event of the spring of 1902 was the visit to this country 
of Prince Henry, brother of the Emperor William II. of Germany. A yacht. 



410 ADMINISTRATION OF ROOSEVELT. 

tlie Meteor, had been built for the Emperor at New York, aud the ostensible 
purpose of the Prince's visit was to be present at the launching of this yacht. 
This took place immediately after his arrival, Miss Alice Roosevelt, eldest 
daughter of the President, being chosen to perform the christening ceremony. 

Reaching New York on February 23d, the Prince was taken through a 
whirl of fetes, receptions, dinners, and other excitements, enough to turn his 
head. He was rushed over the country at breakneck speed, the limits of his 
journey being Chattanooga in the South, and Chicago and Milwaukee in the 
North and West. He sailed again for Europe on March 11th, doubtless feeling 
a relief at his escape from the hands of his too ardent entertainers. 

CABINET CHANGES. 

Though when President Roosevelt took up the reins of office he did so 
under full relations of amity with the McKinley Cabinet and with a statement 
that he would make no changes in the personnel of this Cabinet, yet, from 
various causes, a number of changes took place before the expiration of his first 
year in office. In December the resignation of Charles Emory Smith, Post- 
master-General, was handed in, the demands of business requiring him to with- 
draw from departmental duties. He was succeeded by Hon. Henry C. Payne, 
of Milwaukee. 

A few months afterward Lyman D. Gage, Secretary of the Treasury, 
similarly resigned, also yielding to business necessities, and feeling that he had 
given to this high office all the time he could wisely devote to it. Hon. Leslie 
M. Shaw, the retiring governor of Iowa, was selected as his successor. 

A third withdrawal was that of John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, to 
take effijct May 1, 1902. Hon. William H. Moody, of Massachusetts, was 
chosen to succeed him. 

THE DANISH WEST INDIES AND THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION. 

The year 1898 was the beginning of an epoch of island additions to United 
States territory,, Porto Rico, the Philippines and Guam being obtained that 
year as a result of the war with Spain, and Hawaii by peaceful annexation. In 
1899 Tutuila and some smaller islands of the Samoan group were acquired by 
treaty. The next island acquisition was the Danish West India possessions, 
including St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, lying to the east of Porto Rico. 
These had been ceded to the United States in 1867 for |7,500,000, but the 
Senate had rejected the treaty. They were purchased in 1902 for |5,000,000. 
These islands are small, but contain the valuable harbor of St. Thomas, or 
Charlotte Amalia. 

The question of what should be done with the Philippine Islands came 



thk rinijppiNE question. iii 

proiniiieiitly before Cotit^n'ss in the oju'iiiiig yeiir of ihc Roosevelt udmiiiis- 
tratioii. The capture of A<>;niniil(lo liad j;()iie far toward briiii^iiig the guerrilhi 
warfare in these islands lo an end. It iia<l Wvw followed by numerous sur- 
renders of leaders and soldiers, until the only active opposition was that niiiin- 
tained in two of the southern provinces of Luzon and the small island of Saniar. 

General Lukban, the Filipino leader in the latter, was captured in February, 
liK)2, and in April his successor surrendered, with all his men. CJeneral 
Malvar, the leader in Batangas and Laguna, the insurgent provinces of Luzon, 
also surrendered, and all op|)Osition, beyond that of the bands of brigaiids which 
had existed lor centuries, was at an end. 

There was a marked diff'ei'ence of }X)licy in the jdatforms of the two great 
parties as to wliat should be done eventually with the Philippines. The Re- 
publicans proposed to give them a stable system of government and liold them 
as island possessions of the United States. The Democrats favored the establish- 
ment of a stable government, but demanded that they should then be set free, as 
Cuba had been, this country simply guaranteeing their independence. 

Congress, after passing the Philippine tariff bill, took up the question of 
government of the islands, but soon found itself concerned with a related matter 
of less desirable character. Charges of cruelty by oin- soldiers in the islands 
had long been made, but the government had ignored them. They now became 
too direct to be set aside. Evidence of the frequent use of the " water cure " — 
a mode of torture in which the victim is lllled with water, which is then forced 
out of him — was given by a number of witnesses. 

Still more disturbing was the news from Samar, where General Smith had 
issued orders to kill, Ijui'ii and destroy — boys of over ten years of age to be among 
the killed. Th(!se orders had been literally carried out by Major Waller. The 
President at once ordered a trial by court-martial of General Smith, and in 
this it appeared that Smith had some warrant for his act in orders issued by 
his superiors. It was evident that deeds disgraceful to American t-itizenship had 
been done in the islnnds, and that a state of affairs existed under wliich peace 
in the Philippines could never be assured. 

President lloosevelt's determination to probe these outrngcs to the bottoiri, 
and to inaugurate a moi'e humane system in these new possessions of our country, 
was the only method by which jieaceful conditions could be assured and the 
Filipinos be made consenting wards of the United States. This reform of the 
conditions existing in the Philippines the President could be trusted to inaugur- 
ate, and it was felt that these barbarous i-elics of the })assions of war woukl no 
longer be suffered to ])revail in lands under American rule. 



How Our National Government Does its Work. 



BY MISS ANNA L. DAWES, 

Author of I.iff of Sumner, etc. 




X 




'1 111, CAl'l !■ II, A L' \VA~II r 



The Government of the United 
States is unique in tliree respects : It 
is the largest and most successful de- 
mocracy that has ever existed, it is a 
federal system, and it has a written 
Constitution. Perhaps it may be called 
unique in its methods also, for no 
other government is made up of three 
separate and yet equal branches, each 
in some sense the Government, but all 
necessary to any complete action ot 
the nation ; and still again those de- 
partments, the Legislative, the Execu- 
tive, and the Judiciary, have each their 
own pi'culiar and distinctive features. 
Legislation is representative and not 
democratic. The Executive has not 
only the duty of executing the laws, but a power of veto over them, and the 
Supreme Court stands alone in all the world in its place and importance. 

The Government of the United States, in the expressive phrase of Abraham 
Lincoln, is "A government by the people, of the people, and for the people." 
It is often claimed that England is more democratic in fact, Germany more at- 
tentive to the needs of the people ; but Briton and German alike hold that 
power comes from the throne and its reserved rights remain with the throne. 
But every American believes that power comes from the people, the Executive 
is in some sense an agent, and the reserved rights remain with the people. The 
difference is not only fundamental, but there result from it doctrines and relations 
which run through all our system and our methods as well. No amount of super- 
ficial flexibility, as in England, or of temporary advantage, as in Germany, can at 
all compensate for this great and far-reaching distinction, this confidence in and 
dependence upon the people. Again, we have two kinds of law — that made by 
Congress as the needs of the time require, law which may be altered according to 
26 4 ■ :. 



^,^ THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

occasion, and the great permanent Constitution, which only the people and the 
States acting together can alter, and that after long and careful process, and to 
which all other law must conform. This Constitution is truly enough the 
bulwark of our liberties ; no sudden whims or changing passions can deprive us 
of tlie fundamental rights guaranteed by it ; the storm of battle has proved it 
strong enough to stand against all assaults, and the stress of unequaled growth 
has shown it broad enough for all demands. It seems, indeed, as if a superhuman 
wis Jom was given to the forefathers. Molded by Hamilton, and Franklin, and 
the Adamses, and Madison, and Ellsworth, and many another great man, it 
drew its inspiration from French philosophers and Dutch methods, and the 
mingled love and hate for English practice. The government of a little Baptist 
chiirth in Pennsylvania, and the Connecticut town-meeting, and the conflicting 
interests of different sections, and many other elements entered in to make 
th's great instrument what it is. Under it we have lived for one hundred years, 
add have stretched our boundaries from one ocean to the other, from the 
frozen seas of the Arctic Circle to the tropical waters of the Gulf. We have 
endured three wars, and are grown so strong that the great governments of 
Europe hesitate to encounter us, and sit by our side in equal honor ; we have be- 
come sixty million people, and our riches are matched with imperial treasuries, but 
our doors are ever open to the laborer and we give him all opportunity, until 
he shall stand at the top if it pleases him. Side by side the rich and the poor, 
the learned and the unlearned, the chief among us and the least of all, hold the 
great gift of governing, and we count them each a man ; and the whole great 
and glorious structure rests on the firm and enduring rock of the Constitution. 

The Government is carried on, according to the terms of this Constitution 
and under its provisions, by three great branches : Congress, which makes the 
laws ; the Judiciary, which interprets these laws and decides whether they agree 
with the Constitution ; and the Executive, which carries them out. And since 
this is a government of the people. Congress, which represents the people and 
expresses their will, is the centre around which the whole government turns. 

Congress is composed of two houses, the House of Representatives and 
the Senate. The House of Representatives is elected every two years, and 
each member of it represents somewhat more than 150,000 people. Each 
State sends as many Congressmen as are necessary to represent its whole 
population, being divided into districts containing each a population of 1 50,000, 
from among which the members of Congress are chosen. The requirement 
that the representative shall hve within the State is an important distinction 
between our system and that of England. An English district or borough may 
elect a member of Parliament from any part of the nation, and thus it is believed 
the House of Commons will be composed of the best men in the country ; but 
it is our purpose to have every part of the country represented, and, therefore, 



HOW CONGRESS IS COMPOSED. 



415 



by an unwritten law, never disregarded, we require that each Congressman shal> 
reside in the district which chooses him. Thus, so far as possible, every man in 
the country is represented. It must always be remembered, however, that the 
government of the United States is not a pure democracy, but a republic. It 
is first and foremost a representative government. In every possible way 
endeavor is made that each man shall be represented, but he must act through 
a representative. The short term of service insures that these representatives 
shall reflect the changing will of the people, and furnishes a remedy for all 
unjust or foolish action. He shows an entire ignorance of our system who 
complains of the tyranny of government in the United States. The House 
of Representatives is its chief governing power, and, remade as it is by the 
people themselves once in two years, it is constantly controlled by the will of 
the people. 

This very fact, the fact that the House of 
Representatives can be altered so readily, and 
always will reflect every passing change of 
public sentiment, made it necessary and highly 
desirable to add some more permanent element 
to Congress. For this, among other reasons, 
a Senate was created. Senators are elected 
once in six years, and represent the people of 
a whole State. Thus, because he is more 
permanent, and because he is chosen by a 
larger constituency, a senator represents the 
more stable elements of political thought, not 
so much the passing feeling of the moment, 
but the deep underlying opinions and wishes 

of a large number of people. Moreover, as the Senate is so arranged that 
only one senator from a State is elected at a time, and only one-third of 
the senators go out of office on any given year, it becomes in some sense a 
stable body, and acts as a check upon the excitements and lack of wisdom 
natural to such a body as the House. 

Still another reason, and that of great importance, marks the value of the 
Senate to the people. It is, in fact, more necessary to the preservation of our 
system than the House itself The senators represent the States directly, 
and each State has two senators, no more and no less. This places each State 
on an equal footing with every other, a result obviously an important element 
in our political system, and of the greatest practical importance to our liberties. 
By reason of this provision in our Constitution, Delaware or Rhode Island are 
of equal power in the Senate with Texas or New York, furnishing -i check 
upon the unregulated control of any one section. If the Senate, like the House, 




JAMES G. BLAINE, EX-SECRETARV OK STATE. 



4i6 THE STORY OP AMERICA. 

represented the population and not the States, shortly enough Congress would 
be controlled by the great cities, or, perhaps, by the great States. The tyranny 
of New York or Chicago would be replaced by the tyranny of California or 
Texas. The immense mass of their people would always control the country, 
and we should be at the mercy of a practical monarchy. The equal power of 
the small States in the Senate goes far to prevent this result and to preserve 
the rule of the whole people, an actual as well as a nominal democracy. The 
Senate is altogether necessary to the country, and he is a false friend who 
would persuade the country to undermine it or destroy its relations to the 
States by making it a popular body. So thoroughly was this understood by 
the men who made the Constitution that a unique provision was inserted forbid- 
ding any amendment which should deprive the States of their equal representa- 
tion in the Senate without their own consent, practically a prohibition of such 
an amendment. 

Congress has power to raise funds for our necessities by taxes, to borrow 
money, if necessary, to establish postal facilities, to coin or print our money, 
to regulate our foreign affairs, to make war, to control many other matters, and 
to make all the laws relative to these concerns. 

It requires both houses of Congress to pass the laws that govern us. A 
bill originates in the House or the Senate, according to its nature, is debated 
and passed by that body, sent to the other, debated and passed by that, and 
then sent to the President, who signs it, and thereby it becomes a law. If any 
of these conditions fail it falls to the ground. Either branch can refuse to pass 
a measure, and the President may refuse to sign, or veto it. But in this latter 
case, since the will of the people is' the supreme power, the vetoed bill may be 
passed again, over the head of the President, as the phrase goes, if two-thirds of 
each house of Congress can be thereafter induced to vote for it. All bills for fur- 
nishing money must originate in the House of Representatives, that the people, by 
controlling the purse strings, may still more thoroughly control the Government, 
The Senate, on the other hand, has the power to consider and pass upon our 
treaties, and has also the duty of confirming or refusing all appointments of any 
importance. 

The officers of the House of Representatives are a Speaker, elected from 
among its members, who presides over its deliberations, a Clerk, a Sergeant-at- 
Arms, a Doorkeeper, and several smaller officers necessary to carry on its 
business. The Senate is presided over by the Vice-President of the United 
States, and in his absence by one of the senators, chosen by themselves for 
that duty, and known as the President pro tempore. This body has also a Clerk 
and Sergeant-at-Arms and minor officials. The business of Congress is largely 
done by its committees, which consider all important subjects before they are 
brought to the attention of either house. These committees are appointed by 



'J* 



DUTIES OF THE CONGRESS. 



417 



the Speakey in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate are selected by 
a committee of the senators. Each Congress lasts for two years, although not 
in session all ot the time. Congress meets in the Capitol at Washington on the 
first Monday in December of every year. The first year the session lasts until 
both houses can agree to adjourn, thus giving time for free and ample discus- 
sion of every subject. These " long sessions " usually continue until July or 
August, and sometimes until October. On the alternate years Congress is 
directed by the Constitution to adjourn on the fourth day of March, thus pre- 




SENATE CHAMBER. 



venting the attempt to make any one Congress permanent. All Congressmen 
are paid a salary, in order that poor men may have an equal chance with the 
rich. This salary is $5000 for both senators and representatives, except in the 
case of the Speaker and President of the Senate, who each of them receive 
$8000. No religious tests are allowed, and any man may belong to either house 
who is a citizen of the United States, who resides in the State which elects him, 
and who is of suitable age, twenty-five years in the House and thirty years 
in the Senate. 

When the laws are made they must be carried out ; and this is the bust 



4i8 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



ness of the Executive department of the Government, a co-equal branch with 
the Legislative department. The President is the chief executive officer of tha 
nation, and as such is properly the chief personage and principal officer in the 
land. It is no i.iistake to style him the " chief ruler" of the United States, for, 
although the people are our only rulers, they do this ruling through and by 
means of the President and Congress, and thus depute him to rule over them 
for the time being. The President is only in a limited sense the agent of the 
people, but he is their chosen, although temporary, ruler, who is to carry out' 
their laws. 

The President and Vice-President are chosen once in four years and elected 




iiiiiiiifwmiiM 
,//' ■'/It 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



by the people, who vote by States and not directly as a nation. The citizens of 
each State vote for a body of men called electors, equal in number to their 
Congressmen, who in turn choose the President a few weeks later. As a matter 
of fact, their choice is always known beforehand, as they are elected on the dis 
tinct understanding of their preference. Although the method is somewhat 
clumsy, the principle is most necessary. In all our affairs, so far as possible, we 
must contmue to act by States. It is only thus that our federal system can be 
preserved, and in that lies our safety and success. 

The qualifications for President are that he shall be a native-born Ameri 
can, who has resided in the country for fourteen years, and who is thirty-five 



DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 



419 



year's old. He is inaugurated with much pomp and ceremony on the fourth of 
March, every four years, and resides at the Executive Mansion, or Wliite 
House, in Washington, during his term of office. He is paid a salary of 
$50,000, that he may keep up a suitable state and dignity as our chief ruler. 
If he is guilty of treason, or other "high crimes and misdemeanors," of such 
importance that his continuance in office is dangerous to our liberties, he may 
be impeached by the House of Representatives, tried by the Senate, and, if 
found guilty, deposed, in which case his office would fall to the Vice-President. 
An effort was made to impeach President Johnson in 1866, but there being no 
adequate ground for such action, he was acquitted. 




THE WHITE HOUSE -MAIN ENTRANCE. 



The duties of the Executive department are mostly connected with the 
administration of the laws. The President is Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy, and he also represents the nation in matters connected with foreign 
governments. To that end he sends out foreign ministers to other govern 
ments, and consuls, to conduct our business affairs in foreign ports. A large 
body of foreign ministers sent from other countries. for a similar purpose reside 
at Washington, and throughout our cities are scattered foreign consuls for the 
transaction of commercial business. 

The President is assisted in his duties by a body of advisers, known as the 



420 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

Cabinet. This consists of eight officers of great importance, of his own seleC' 
tion and appointment, each of whom has control of affairs of the Government 
in his particular department. The Secretary of State conducts oui foreign rela- 
tions ; the Secretary of the Treasury our financial affairs ; the Secretary of War 
is over our armies ; the Attorney General is the law officer of the Government ; 
the Postmaster General superintends the postal service ; the Secretary of the 
Navy commands our navy ; the Secretary of the Interior is concerned with 
patents, the Indians, the public lands, and many other important matters ; and 
the Secretary of Agriculture promotes the farming interests of the country. 
Each of these Secretaries has his office in Washington, where he attends to the 
enormous business of his department. Under him are an immense number of 
officers and clerks, all appointed either by the President or the head of the 
department, to carry on the business of Government. Each department is 
divided inlo bureaus, and much of the work is of the highest value and 
importance. 

In case of the death or inability of the President, the duties of his office 
devolve upon the Vice-President, and after him would fall to the Cabinet succes- 
sively, in the order already named. But should any member of the Cabinet be 
obliged to take this office, he would fill it only until a new election could be held. 

We have had a long; and remarkable list of Presidents, beo-inningf with 
George Washington himself There have been in all twenty-three different Presi- 
dents, by a curious coincidence covering twenty-four terms, and distributed 
among various political parties. Many of them were men of extraordinary 
ability. They have been strangely representative, some, like Washington and the 
Adamses being men of the aristocratic class, while others, like Jackson, and Lin- 
coln, and Garfield, were proud of their origin from among the poorest of the 
people. Twice the descendant of a President has filled that high place — John 
Ouincy Adams being the son of John Adams, and Benjamin Harrison the grand 
son of Wm. Henry Harrison. Two Presidents have brought beautiful and charm- 
ine brides to the White House durinsf their term of office — President Tvler, who 
married Miss Julia Gardner, and President Cleveland, who married Miss Frances 
Folsom. Many times the people have delighted to honor the heroes of our 
wars. As one epoch after another passed in our history the laurels of war were 
placed upon the heads of Washington, of Andrew Jackson, of Wm. Henry 
Harrison, of Taylor, of Grant, and Hayes, and Garfield, and the second Harrison. 
Many different States have claimed the honor of the Presidency, but we have 
never yet had an Executive from the great Western States. Several Presidents 
have been re-elected, but by an unwritten law no man ever serves but two 
terms. Four have died in office, two of them, Lincoln and Garfield, having been 
assassinated. There have been many great men and many wise men in this 
office, but among them all there are three who stand out beyond their fellows, 



POWERS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 



42f 



creators of history — George Washington, who founded the Repul)lic ; Abraham 
Lincohi, the greatest of all our great men in any time, and Ulysses S. Grant, 
the chief among our generals. 

An elaborate system of courts make up our national judiciary, and secure 
to the citizens protection and justice. In some respects the most extraordinary 
feature of our Government is the Supreme Court, which is unique in its power 
and importance. It is the business of this tribunal to construe the laws, to 
decide whether they agree with the Constitution, to settle any question as to 







SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. 



whether the Constitution has been violated in deed, to decitle upon suits 
between the States and the nation, and to determine legal cjuestions between 
this and other countries. It is co-ordinate with Congress and the Executive, 
and yet the highest power in the land, for both bow to its decisions. Law and 
justice are preserved in its keeping, lest either of the other two great branches 
of the Government usurp the power, or transcend the Constitution. Any law 
the constitutionality of which is questioned, may be brought before this court, 
and its decision is final, confirming it against all opposition, or making it null 



42 2 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 

and void, and dius of no effect whatever. This court consists of nine judges, or 
justices as they are called, appointed for life or good behavior, by the President, 
and confirmed by the Senate. They are paid $10,000 a year, with a pension 
after they become too old for longer service. The head of the court, or the 
Chief justice, administers the oath to the President on his inauguration, and 
many times stands ne.xt him in rank and position. Certainly no nobler illus- 
tration of the might and majesty of law can be given than this court, adjusting 
the affairs of the nation itself to which President and people alike bow, in 
token that righteousness and justice are greater than power. 

No account of our Government would be in any sense complete, nor 
indeed would it be intelligible, that did not take into account our Federal system. 
The whole country is divided into States, and each State is a separate and dis- 
tinct government, having control of its local affairs, and responsible to its own 
people. In all those larger affairs which concern the whole country, it joins 
with its fellows in the general Government, but the power of this general 
Government comes from the States. The States are not given more or less 
power by the United States, but the States give more or less power to the 
United States and reserve the other rio^hts to themselves. The United States, 
however, has supreme control over all matters relating to the nation, and will 
not allow any State to infringe upon the rights or jeopardize the safety of any 
other. For that reason it will not permit any State or States to secede, because 
the cooperation o{ them all is necessary to the safety of the Union. We are 
States united into a nation, but we are a nation, one and indissoluble. 

The history of the country makes plain these relations. Thirteen colonies, 
settled by different peoples of different origins and for widely different reasons, 
joined each other for the sake of common safety and national prosperity. 
Practical necessity and political wisdom alike dictated that local affairs should 
continue under the control of each colony or State, while matters of general 
interest were decided by the whole acting together. To this end each colony 
gave up to the nation its general rights but reserved the power over its internal 
affairs. It is this federal system which makes it possible for a democratic 
government to rule such an immense country, and it is only this. Therefore, 
while we are careful to retain the supreme control to the general Government. 
we must more and more relegate sectional concerns, however large and import 
ant, to the States ; and we mast guard against the centralizing of our affairs ir, 
the hands of the national Government, however much to our temporary advan- 
tage it may be. In the nature of the case we cannot govern territory of such 
enormous extent, with so various a population and such varying interest, by 
democratic methods unless we keep strictly to the federal idea. It is our only 
safety. 

Each State has a Governor, Legislature, and Supreme Court of its own ; 



RELATION OF STATES TO THE NATION. 423 

the Governor, Legislature, and, in some States, the Supreme Court, being 
elected by its own people. Different States require different qualifications 'In 
their voters ; in some a man must be able to read and write ; in some be pos- 
sessed of certain property ; in one there is no distinction between men and 
women ; and various other requirements are found in the different States. 
Whatever makes a man a voter in his own State allows him to vote in that State 
in national elections also. 

The term of office of State officers varies greatly, some States holding their 
Legislatures annually, and some biennially ; some Governors being elected for 
one year and some for longer terms. In all these, its own affairs, the State is 
supreme. Each has its own courts, under its Supreme Court, for the further- 
ance of justice. Local affairs also are very variously administered, by townships, 
counties, parishes, and other subdivisions, many of them very ancient, and in 
like manner cities are governed in different ways. All this diversity in unity 
serves to make one homogeneous nation of this heterogeneous multitude of sixty 
million people. 

The original thirteen States, little as they dreamed of the great territory over 
which the flag of the United States floats so proudly to-day, had no narrow idea 
of a nation, and provided for its expansion even better than they knew. The 
common land belonging to the nation, and as yet largely unsettled, is held by 
the common Government, in Territories. These are governed by officers 
appointed by the President, and are subject to United States laws only. Their 
own Leofislatures arrange their local affairs, and each sends a delegate to Con- 
gress to look after its interests, but the law does not allow him to vote. As 
soon as any Territory contains a population large enough. Congress admits it 
to the Union as a State, with all the rights and privileges of its older sisters, 
the President proclaims that fact to the world, and a new commonwealth is 
added to the sisterhood, marked by the new star in the flag we honor. Thus 
one after another we have already seen thirty-one new States added to that 
little band of thirteen, some of them great and rich realms many times as large 
as the whole nation at its beg-in nine. 

The United States is indeed a land of the free, and its great written charter, 
the Constitution, itself protects the freedom of her citizens. The right to wor- 
ship God as he will, the right to assemble when and where he will, freedom of 
speech and press, and of petition, the right to keep and bear arms — all these 
great gifts the United States gives to every person in all her broad borders. Nor 
is this enough ; she preserves his house inviolate from search and seizure, and 
everywhere in all his relations throws the shield of the law over his person and 
possessions. If indeed he be accused of crime, she makes certain that he shall 
have justice, for by the right to a trial by jury and by many other careful provisions 
she protects both his person and property, and in the last and greatest articles 



424 



THE STORY OF AMERICA. 



of her great Magna Charta — articles for which she spent blood and treasure 
beyond the telling — she forbids all slavery within all her borders, and guarantees 
to every citizen his right to vote without regard to "race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude." For this is the duty which the United States asks of 
every man-child within her borders, to help her govern herself This is his 
proud privilege — to choose her officers, to control her policy, to sustain her 
laws, and through his representatives to make them ; to develop the Nation, and 
govern her. This is what it is to vote in the United States of America. 




BAILEY S DAM ON THE RED RIVER 



^ 






< ,. ^v^ -•'^- -n-o^ ;/^ '- '^b^ - '}.. -^^ 

.^•- ^^ . / V ^^ ,' .V ^^ ■/ ^^ <^ \ 

^ - o V •'- • o V . -^ 

o ^.„„. -^^ "-' ^V _ °i. ■"-■' ^C> V^ .,, ^v 






o 



••1^ 



i"*- ^ «, ■ " ■ ' "O. a"* » .ii «, 



■^ ^> '■■■ >^ ^^. -' .^-^ <> ■'-. • .^C- -5^ 


















.V 



-^^ 






■-0 V" 



,^^^^>. 



"^<^. 









c 



0" 



■^ 

r r. 






.0^ 












■A' 



^.-, 



^> 



O. .<^. 



;-"■.>--■' 






O " C , X> 



,0^ 



'"*<. 

-? 



.^"^ ■■ 






o V 
if 4-^ 



e 






.0' 



.40., 



<v 



'bt-^' 



,0' 






V o"^ 



.*' 0' 






-b V 



%. 



.-h' 






•f. "■ 



-■^ ^.• 



-{v' 










.'^•f-. 








,S" 


a\ 








0^" 


^>. 






•A 




-^y. 


0^ 








:/. 


^:. 












^ c 


rf-' ,0- 










./' 








.p 


^' 








,\. 


^ 


•T;. 






,.^ 


"-x, 

: V 






^-A' 

.^^' 



^f.^ 



A^^ 



a\ 



'\ 



,0' 



•^, 



^0 









.,^' 



•'-^•0^ 
5^^-^ 



